Top Four Strategies For Busting Productivity Barrier
Learn How Creativity Can Lead To Productivity
We all want to be productive ⏳,✅ checking boxes, ❌crossing items off our lists. Is there anything more satisfying?
We tend to think of productivity as a measure of quantity. The more stuff we get done, the more productive we feel. But sometimes being productive is more about substance than volume. In other words, the struggle isn’t getting more things done, but bringing a single big, hairy, messy problem, or question to resolution. Sometimes the brand of productivity we’re seeking isn’t about efficiency, but about finding ways to reach a finish line.
Struggling right now to produce something that’s been hanging over your head?
Here are my Top 4 strategies for busting through this productivity barrier!
1. Slow Things Down To Getting Results
We live in an era of distraction. We’re over-scheduled, over-alerted by apps, and overwhelmed with to-dos, and the common wisdom of the day is to stop multitasking.
Multitasking they tell us is detrimental to our attention and focus. It makes us less productive, the opposite of what we’re after. We’re told to focus on one thing at a time and to do it well. Don’t, for example, try to compose an email while you’re also on that conference call and possibly cooking dinner.
One exception to this rule is when you need a boost of creativity to bring something to completion, this is where slow-motion multitasking can come in handy. Think about a moment in which you have several projects in progress at once.
Struggling to get a project done? Take a break! Go grab that coffee with a friend you’ve been meaning to reconnect with, then dive back into the project. Sometimes that intentional shift in attention can reinvigorate your idea factory.
2. Ask What If Or Why Questions
Sometimes the very thing that slows us down is everything we know.
As we grow in our careers, we learn the rules of the road. When we understand our limits and constraints, budgets, timelines, and approval processes, we know how to avoid hitting roadblocks. These constraints may guide us, but they also shockingly constrain us. We tend to do things the same old ways time and again to avoid hitting that third rail.
What if you asked yourself? New York Times article highlights stories of legendary companies that started with simple questions.
Polaroid: Edwin’s 3 yo child asked, “Why do we have to wait for a picture?”
Netflix: “Why do we have to leave the house for video?”
Airbnb: “What if hotels aren’t the only option?”
These stories lead to industry shifts, but the principles apply to everyday questions.
The what-if strategy allows us to be expansive in our thinking, imagining options and possibilities we might not otherwise have uncovered.
3. Set Strict Deadlines
You must have experienced the kind of snap decisions that you make when a deadline begins to appear, putting you more in tune with your taste and gut instincts.
When you don’t have time to second guess yourself and you’re forced to go with what your brain is handing you that day, you’ll wind up with something you would never have created if given more time.
Above one was natural deadlines!
When you Imitate a deadline as seriously as a natural one, I call it a forced deadline!
Is there something you’ve been circling around without landing?
Put a stake in the ground and make that your rough pathway from beginning to end. You can edit and polish from there, but sometimes forcing those start and end places can yield a decision that’s craftier than what hours of spinning would otherwise have produced.
Set a Deadline! I will finish it in 1 hour!
4. Allow Your Mind To Wander
And last, do creative work at fuzzy times. We’ve all been advised, at some point, to do our most creative work at the times of day when we are sharpest.
If that works for you, then keep on keeping on it, but, for some, the opposite may actually bump up your creative productivity.
Sometimes doing creative work when your mind is a bit fuzzier allows your brain to wander and make new and interesting connections it wouldn’t have otherwise made
This explains why some of us have our most creatively inspired moments in the shower when we aren’t being intentionally analytical. One way I’ve put this idea to work is by writing a question to myself just before I go to bed, something I’ve been noodling on.
It’s also the permission you need to go bumble around, rock out to your favorite album, or jump on into that shower.
👏 if you liked reading this post.
Let me know some of your productivity hacks by leaving a comment 📥!
