What is [Product]ivity?
Productivity has become the buzzword across companies, people, schools, everywhere…but do you know what it really means?
Building a day that works for you often means a “productive” day for most people. They ask “how can I be more productive?” In order to instill a feeling of productivity into your day, you have to understand what productivity is. Let’s start with some official definitions:
yielding results, benefits, or profits
yielding or devoted to the satisfaction of wants or the creation of utilities
the rate at which goods are produced or work is completed
the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.
the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services
The list could go on and on from all the different dictionaries defining productivity. Notice the patterns. Rate. Quality. Generate. Results. Output. Yields.
Productivity focuses on the results and how much can you create. Here’s my favorite example. If you strive to call your mom 3 times a month, and it just so happens that in March, you call your mom 4 times as compared to the 3 times in January. You are more productive in March.
Harsha Helps Twist
Maybe it’s because I was an economics major, but for me, product lies right in productivity, making it the measure of your output. I love the example above because it measures your productivity based on a goal you had set for yourself. A goal is like a product.
Okay, follow me here.
A product is something you have clarity on prior to execution. You know what needs to be prioritized for the product. You have the steps (inputs) you need to take for the product to be completed. So what is left is for you to focus and complete the steps for the product to be output. You have a deadline but no need to complete everything in a rush because you have a roadmap.
This is where I have always seen the key difference between productivity, efficiency, and busyness. Busyness is doing to do, often without clarity, and the need to complete everything fast (and probably multitask!). Efficiency is where the practice of taking fewer resources to produce output comes in. This is where you learn about your internal clock, the importance of flow and breaks, and so on. Efficiency is the next step from a productive life. Busyness is a step backward.
No matter how you view productivity or a productive day, make sure you have internalized that meaning for you. Are you reflecting and noting down what you produced today? Was it what you intended to produce?
Remember productivity is not efficiency. Productive days are not busy days. Productive days are based on the outputs (products) you produce.
Summary
Productivity has a lot of definitions but the best way to view it is as output or product. What and how much output did I produce today? Remember it is not a measure of how much can I get done today. Rather it is did I produce what I intended to produce?
Productivity is not efficiency or busyness. Busyness is doing things to do them without any clarity or focus.
You can and are allowed to have your definition and take on productivity - just make sure it is something you are clear on so you can catch yourself when you fall back to “busy.”
Action Steps
How do you plan your day? Go back and look at your calendar, to-do list, or planner. What did last week look like? Productive or busy? Did you accomplish what you set out to?
Reflect:
Daily: What did I produce today? Was it what I intended to produce? What do I need to produce tomorrow for a productive day?
Weekly: Review your calendar, to-do lists or whatever you use. What was your most productive day? Why?
Monthly: What made this past month productive? Did I feel productive or busy? How can I ensure a productive feeling this next month and focus on the products I want to produce?