Most productivity advice encourages us to eliminate spare capacity.
We fill gaps in the diary, batch similar tasks and streamline recurring work. We try to make every part of the system earn its place.
This can certainly make us more efficient. But it can also make us less able to respond when circumstances change.
Continue reading Why a little apparent inefficiency can make you more adaptableIn yesterday’s post, I suggested that the deeper outcome of productivity is not optimisation but self-trust.
Self-trust does not appear because we find the perfect system. It develops through experience.
Each time we make a realistic commitment and follow through, we give ourselves a little more evidence that we can rely on ourselves.
Large commitments can feel important, but they are not always the best place to begin.
Choose one small action that would make life slightly easier for your future self.
Continue reading One act of self trustProductivity advice often focuses on optimisation.
We are encouraged to find the fastest tool, the most efficient workflow, or the perfect morning routine. There is always another app to install, another system to refine, another technique to master.
But the deeper purpose of productivity is not efficiency.
It is self-trust.
Continue reading Why trust matters more than optimisationIn Getting Things Done, a next action is the next visible, physical activity needed to move something forward.
That might mean:
These actions move us towards completion. But in an uncertain situation, we may not yet know which route will produce the outcome we want.
Sometimes the next action needs to help us learn.
Continue reading Cynefin and GTD: when your next action is an experimentSustainable productivity needs a rhythm of effort and recovery.
That can be easy to accept in principle but much harder to practise. When we pause, we may feel guilty that we are not doing something more productive.
Learning to honour recovery means recognising that it is not a reward for finishing everything. It is part of how we remain able to continue.
Continue reading Recovery is part of the rhythm: how to rest without guilt
