What do people really want from being more productive?
By getting more things done, we believe we will make more money, have more time, and therefore have more happiness. But what are you going to do with that money and time?
We all know intuitively that more money won’t make us happy. Those who consult others on money have clients with money problems making $30,000 a year and $800,000 a year. Happiness studies have shown no correlation between increased life satisfaction and making more than about $36,000 a year.
We also know intuitively that more time won’t make us happy, either. I remember being so excited when school got out, only to be totally bored the next day, and for the rest of the summer. Many people find that they can’t relax–or even stop checking work email–when they are on vacation. And try relaxing on vacation when you have kids!
Don’t get me wrong–excess time and money are great. But what exactly are you going to do with that time and money?
Many people when they fantasize about what they’d rather be doing instead of their crappy job think of hanging out on some tropical island. I’ve met several wealthy people who’ve sold a business and then done this. It’s great for about a week, maybe 4, but then what? After a while you get restless, and want to do something–maybe not toil away at an office, but certainly contribute to the world, or create something unique, or help others in some way.
I say, why wait?
Do what you are most wanting to do, now. Do what you are here to do.
Don’t put your life’s purpose on your someday/maybe list.
Productivity is the measure of outputs per unit of input, i.e. efficiency. The value hidden in “productivity” is frugality, and frugality does not mean being a tightwad but “sucking the marrow out of life.” Personal productivity is about living fully–not someday/maybe, but RIGHT NOW.
A lot has also been written about simplicity. As David Allen talks about on an upcoming episode of Precision Change, simplicity is about being deeply present in the moment, getting into the zone, so that the only thing that matters is this very moment.
And this very moment is all that we ever have, right?
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing and talking more about productivity, simplicity, and some specific methods for cultivating this flow state, this presence, this zone right in the midst of your work…so you won’t have to work ever harder to achieve something you can have right now.