The Productivity Formula

July 23rd 2007

What better way to sum up something than to turn it into a formula? If someone can do it for procrastination, then why can’t I do it for productivity? This is no serious formula, you won’t be able to put in any sums and get a sensible result to determine how productive you are (feel free to try though). However it will hopefully emphasise some key points about being productive.

productivity = efficiency (time + workflow)

The formula can essentially be summed up like so: productivity involves using the time available in the most efficient way to do the next actions most appropriate to that time available and the context you are in. Make sense?

That may or may not sound a little out there, so I will go into it in some more detail: The first element is time and how efficiently you use it. The most common problem that effects this is procrastination. I won’t go into detail about dealing with that as I have already done an extensive guide to it in a previous post. Other influences that can affect how efficiently you use your time can be how many distractions you have around you, how tired you are or when your last break was. The most efficient use of time involves minimising distractions, discouraging procrastination, working at the times of day that most suit you and taking regular breaks to keep your mind focused and clear when you are working.

The second element is efficient workflow practises and the most popular approach nowadays is GTD (though it’s certainly not the only one). It encourages you to have the tools and systems necessary to create a stress free and streamlined workflow. However, even just using basic to-do lists to manage your work is more effective than working without any system. On top of this you also need to understand how you like to work and what is most effective for you personally.

Ultimately a good workflow will help you to firstly choose next actions that are most appropriate to the time available. If you have 20 minutes spare and you decide to work on a project that needs a solid hour of your time, that’s not necessarily a smart choice. Likewise you also want to be choosing next actions most appropriate to the context you are in, for example focusing on doing phone calls when you are near to a phone.

You are not productive unless you have both of these elements in place in your life. You might be great at prioritising and picking the most appropriate projects for your situation but if you are constantly procrastinating then you will not be moving forward. Alternatively, if you are focused and prepared to use your time effectively but you have no clear plan of how to proceed with your work then again, you will not achieve much.

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