Satisfaction Led Productivity
Chasing productivity is stressful. That stress decreases productivity. Flip the script and put satisfaction first to make things easier on yourself and become more productive to boot.
Shifting our mindset.
Ignore the haters.
If you search ’famous time management books’ you’ll see promises of fantastic results. They are usually some variation of “here’s the key to success” and often positioned as “studies of what we can learn from the most successful people”.
Implicit in this is the idea that if you too don’t achieve similar results then it must be your fault. That’s bullshit.
Bill Gates may have good work habits, but he was also a child of incredible privilege who lucked into sweetheart deals early on. These icons we see didn’t just work hard for their success, they worked hard to exploit the wealth and connections they lucked into.
The idea that you can “do what Bill Gates does” and have the same success is not a true story. It’s a fantasy that’s meant to sell you something. Self-help authors may believe what they’re saying and probably do want to help the world, but their primary goal is to sell stories. The packaging of their advice is primarily about creating and marketing a fantasy. Unless a book starts with “Be born rich and well connected,” it’s not going to give you good advice about how to be Bill Gates.
Create opportunities for success through modest expectations.
If there is “a secret” to success, it is this: success builds success. Forget about what Bill Gates does. Instead, look at what good dog trainers do.
To teach a dog to shake, the trainer might spend hours rewarding the dog for lifting a paw off the ground. As time goes on, more will be expected, but never more than the dog can do with consistent success.
People, like dogs, do best when we build on success. If we think of the final goal as the only thing that matters, the journey will be long and difficult. There will be natural and perfectly reasonable temptation to quit.
A journey of continual success and reward will be far more pleasant, productive, and much more likely to reach its goal. The difference between the two journeys is all about the frame and your approach.
High expectations can easily turn the success of “I improved” into the failure of “I missed my goal”. But by setting a series of modest expectations, we are far more likely to reach our ultimate goal than by focusing narrowly on the ultimate goal itself.
Keep the right long-term goals in sight.
It’s not all about the journey, though. It’s important to have specific goals, and picking the right kind of goal is critical.
Dieting to “feel better” consistently yields more and longer-term weight loss results than dieting specifically to hit a number. This works because “feeling better” is a goal to which we have immediate and intimate access. We’re more consistent because eating that extra piece of cake isn’t a calculation, it’s a question of what will make us happier.
Similarly, looking at time management as a way to increase satisfaction will yield more consistent results over the long term. This, in turn, yields a greater gain in productivity than managing for productivity per se.
You are a human, so use that. Productivity is about being smart, but also about just putting in the time. Having goals that speak to us helps us put in the time.
Be honest with yourself.
In particular, there are two areas where honesty and time management intersect: “How long will stuff take?” and “What do you really want?” For many, this is the most difficult part of developing good time management practices.
Most of us tend to be optimists when it comes to timelines. It’s called the “planning fallacy” and the reasons it exists are deeply rooted in our psychology (see references). So, the honest answer to “How long will this take?” is usually “No one knows.”
That’s OK. Most of your goals don’t need dates and dates often don’t help anyway. A deadline is more often an excuse to procrastinate than a goad to perform. It’s much better to get in the habit of executing than to try to get better at guessing the future.
Second, be honest about what will bring satisfaction and what will get you there. We often are trapped by the things we think we want. There’s a lot we do because it’s expected, and a lot we avoid because we’re afraid of what others might think.
There is a bit of “follow your bliss” in this, but the second part about “what will get you there” is just as important. Improving your life will take work. Some of that work will likely be quite difficult and even unpleasant. Only by taking an honest look at what lies ahead can you make an informed decision about which path is best for you.
The iterative practice of improvement.
How do we start? Invest in the process. Set up your first-draft time management process (see ‘References’ below).
Envision your goals. Imagine yourself just a little more satisfied with life. What does that look like? Remember to avoid dates unless necessary and set goals without expectations.
Plan your tasks. How can you accomplish your goals? Where are the short-term wins? What do you need to set up for the long-term? Where do you need help and information?
Execute. In each moment, you are necessarily choosing something to do. When you must do something, give it as much focus as you can so that you can get it done quickly and efficiently. When you have a choice, pick the thing that will bring you the most satisfaction.
Evaluate. Do you need to adjust your expectations around time? Are the goals you’re working towards still the right goals for you? Don’t worry about numbers or success or failure. Are you satisfied? What would make things more satisfying?
Now take that feedback and do it all again. Invest in your processes to make them better. Align your goals towards satisfaction. Improve your plans. Practice execution. Evaluate honestly.
Final thoughts
Time management is one of those things we have to do in the sense that we do it whether we choose to do it or not. We can’t choose not to do it. We can only ignore it, but that usually creates tension and dissatisfaction.
Most of us could benefit from more, thoughtful engagement with where and how we spend our time. The traditional approach, at least in the “west”, has been to come at this from the standpoint of “productivity”. In practice, however, this puts the cart before the horse, which is usually a recipe for failure.
If we instead let satisfaction lead productivity, then we often reach the same or even superior gains in productivity with much less stress. And even where productivity is not improved, at least you’ll be more satisfied with life.
As a companion to this article, I lay out the nuts and bolts of my personal practice in the companion article, Simple Time Management.
See Also
- An overview of my own “Simple Time Management System”.
- “Planning fallacy” from Wikipedia.
- Trello’s Kat Boogaard has a good article “Microproductivity” which aligns closely with the idea of “achievable goals”.
- A short take by Tomek Pazio as to “Why deadlines are killing your productivity”.
- How “[Edgar] got rid of deadlines altogether — and you can, too.”
- Google search for ‘famous time management books’.
