Don’t Get Organized, Take Action: Action-Powered Productivity

“Get organized.”

That’s how most productivity advice starts. It may not be explicitly stated — Getting Things Done (GTD), for instance, may not use those exact words. But everything we learn tells us that before we can do anything meaningful, we need to structure our work, arrange our tasks, put everything in its place.

And we believe it, because it sounds logical. Obvious, even. But what if I told you that this approach is fundamentally flawed, that it actually creates more problems than it solves? What if there were an approach — Action-Powered Productivity — that lets you take action first, with structure growing naturally from your actions?

Most productivity systems fail not because they lack structure but because they demand too much structure before any action can be taken. This insistence on getting organized first creates two significant problems.

Two problems with “Get Organized first”

1. The friction of creating a system

The first major issue with traditional productivity systems is the friction involved in creating the system itself. If we need hours or days to create the structure of a system before we can use it, it’s unlikely we’ll ever get started.

There’s another pitfall here for the perfectionists among us. It can actually feel good to labor away building the “perfect” system. It feels like meaningful action, and we enjoy the challenge. It’s like solving a puzzle.

As an analogy, think about how good it can feel to do a big annual review on December 26 and set objectives for the next year. It’s so refreshing, so freeing. We propose big changes, lay out big ideas. Of course, by January 15 those have all fallen by the wayside, but man, December 26 felt great!

Friction that “feels good” is pernicious. We feel accomplished, but nothing actually got accomplished. There is no such thing as a perfect system — time spent building one is inherently wasted.

2. The System doesn’t reflect Reality

But let’s say you manage to push through the friction and create what you believe to be the perfect productivity system. Or maybe you’ve adopted a ready-made system that promises to revolutionize your workflow. You’re all set, right? Not so fast.

The second major problem with traditional productivity systems is that they don’t align with the real-life actions you need to take. These systems, no matter how well-designed or popular, are inherently generic. They’re created with a hypothetical user in mind, not you specifically. And because of this, there’s often a significant disconnect between the system’s structure and the reality of your daily tasks and workflow.

This creates additional points of friction. Every time you try to use the system, you find yourself fighting against its structure, trying to make your unique tasks and processes fit into predefined categories or workflows that don’t quite match your needs. Instead of making your work easier, the system becomes an additional layer of complexity you have to navigate.

You usually blame yourself for this friction. It’s why so many testimonials for productivity systems read like this: “This is a brilliant system, so well thought-out. I really love it. I don’t actually use it, but….” You think it’s you that’s the problem.

No, it’s the structure-first mentality that’s the problem.

The Core of Action-Powered Productivity: Take Action First

So, if getting organized first isn’t the answer, what is? This is where Action-Powered Productivity comes in. Instead of getting organized before taking action, try the opposite: take action first, and let structure follow.

Why? Because by taking action first, you allow the natural flow of your work and life to determine the structure of your system. This approach not only reduces friction but also ensures that your system is a true reflection of your needs, not someone else’s idea of how you should work.

When you take action first, you’re not wasting time trying to predict how you’ll work best or creating a system based on someone else’s idea of productivity. Instead, you take action, see what works and what doesn’t, and then build your toolkit around that. It’s an organic process, one that evolves naturally as you learn more about how you work best.

The next logical question is “How do I build a system from action?” How can you move from taking practical action now to reliable efficiency in the future?

Capturing Recurrence: The Key to Building Your Productivity Toolkit

At the heart of Action-Powered Productivity is the concept of capturing recurrence. After you take action, you take a moment to reflect on what you did and consider how you can make it more efficient next time.

When you Capture Recurrence™, you create a blueprint for how to do that work again in the future, only better. You might create a template, set up a recurring task, or automate a procedure — whatever it takes to make the action more efficient the next time around.

What’s powerful about this approach is that it’s not about creating a massive, all-encompassing system from the start. Instead, you’re solving small, specific problems as they arise. You build your toolkit one piece at a time, based on real-world actions and needs. And because of this, your approach is inherently more flexible and responsive to your actual work and life.

This method is effective because it’s grounded in reality. You’re not trying to anticipate every possible scenario you might encounter. Instead, you iterate on concrete actions that you’ve taken before. This makes the process of improving more manageable and less overwhelming.

The Growing Power of Recurrence

As you capture recurrence over time, your toolkit becomes more powerful. The more recurrence you capture, the more efficient you become. And everywhere you look, you’ll see opportunities to capture recurrence in your life and work.

Here’s an example from my own work. I have a specific type of template I call a “date-driven project template.” It allows me to pre-schedule tasks relative to a particular reference date. Whenever I use one of those templates, I can just set the date and all the other tasks schedule appropriately.

I created my first date-driven project template for the launch and running of Cohort Four of my former flagship course, Applied Action-Powered Productivity. I had taken action in Cohorts One through Three, and captured that recurrence in my new type of template.

Green Cars Everywhere!

Just like buying a green car causes you to spot green cars everywhere, once I built that first template, I recognized the pattern throughout my life and work. I now have date-driven project templates for hiring subs to play piano for me when I need to miss a church service, for preparing the lawn equipment for the summer season, for purchasing firewood each year, for changing the oil in our van, and more. I even have one for our family’s Christmas celebrations. The first task for 2024 Christmas has already happened — pre-ordering farm-fresh chestnuts for roasting.

This “see it everywhere” improvement isn’t limited to date-driven project templates. Even something as simple as recognizing when tasks are really recurring tasks and capturing them accordingly can make a startling difference when applied across all your work.

Recurring tasks are particularly powerful for that most daunting of productivity tasks: the “Review.” One bottleneck familiar to GTD practitioners is the “Weekly Review.” For most people, it simply doesn’t get done. There are too many projects to review, and very little immediate benefit available.

But when you incorporate reviews when they’re truly relevant, they become less overwhelming and far more valuable. I use recurring tasks to prompt reviews of my upcoming calendar, my prototasks (analogous to GTD’s someday/maybe tasks), my health and weight-loss progress, lists of travel ideas, upcoming transfers from checking to savings accounts, and much, much more. And all those recurring tasks have different “periodicities” — they recur when they’re useful, not just once-a-week/one-size-fits-all.

This is the kind of captured recurrence that keeps my life in order without overburdening me on any one particular day. And it applies broadly, solving little problems all across my life and work.

Don’t Get Organized, Take Action

The next time you’re tempted to spend hours organizing your tasks or tweaking your productivity system, stop. Instead, take action. Do the work that’s in front of you, and then capture the recurrence from what you’ve done.

By taking action first, you’ll sidestep the paralysis that can come from trying to create the perfect system, and instead build a toolkit that’s perfectly suited to your unique needs and habits.

Productivity isn’t about having the most organized to-do list or the prettiest calendar. It’s about getting meaningful work done. And the best way to do that isn’t to get organized — it’s to take action.

What Action Will You Take?

Not surprisingly, I suggest visiting the Action-Powered Productivity website — and joining the free APP community — as good first action options.

But here’s some specific field work for you:

At the end of the day today, look back over what you’ve accomplished. Choose one action that you know you’ll do again in the future and ask yourself: “How can I do this more efficiently in the future?” Then capture that recurrence in a recurring task, procedure, template, or automation.

Make that part of your daily routine and you’ll be amazed how quickly your productivity toolkit changes your life!

Learn more about Action-Powered Productivity at actionpoweredproductivity.com. You can also subscribe to a direct email version of this newsletter on the Action-Powered Productivity website!

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