A little over a week ago Lifehack.org had a very interesting article looking at five productivity ideas the author, Dustin Wax, was not yet buying into. I found it to be a very well written, intriguing read that encouraged a lot of thought. Here’s my opinions on the five ideas.
Mind mapping
I’ve tried mind mapping in the past to make myself more productive, but it’s never worked. Mind mapping is great for brainstorming and jotting down ideas but for me that is all it’s good for. One person suggested using the approach to plan out your week instead of having lists. In theory it sounded a great idea, because you are able to draw lines and connection between different elements. I could visually identify the correlations between a next action bubble and its related project bubble and then onto what role it fits into and so on. Unfortunately that turned out to be both unnecessary and complicated. We don’t need to draw lines between everything to understand how they all relate. If you are a busy person with lots of projects you just end up with a huge spider’s web of confusion.
80/20 Rule
I actually like this rule, though I do agree with Lifehack.org somewhat that it is a generalized idea, wrapped around some unscientific formula. For example, I doubt I really have exactly 20% of my clothes that I wear 80% of the time. However if we don’t take the idea at face value it’s actually very useful. Most people will have a small selection of clothes that they really do wear most of their time, or do the same set of projects that take up most of your time. When it comes to streamlining or simplifying your processes that is useful knowledge.
The power of Brand You
How exactly does this influence your productivity? To me this seems to be more involved with personal development and self-help. Can it really be good for you to brand yourself according to what people want? It’s a shame that nowadays your image to others seems more important than the work you actually do. I remember a friend telling me of his experiences with this issue at his previous job. He was one of the hardest, most productive people there but because he was not comfortable being false to himself and putting on a fake public image the company wanted his efforts were ignored.
Making productivity a habit
I disagree with this point. Work out what makes specific approaches and systems make your more productive and stick with them till it becomes a habit. As you become more practised in being productive, you spend less time thinking about it and more time actually being productive. How is that a bad thing? The article does argue that when practices become habits you can get slack and miss things because you are not consciously thinking about the issues anymore but that’s the same for everything in life, are we to change all your productivity systems every month to stop us becoming too comfortable with it?
Visualizing success
This is worryingly close to the new age advice that I’ve questioned a lot in my self-help myths series. Ok, you have to write a presentation at the next meeting so you’ve imagined yourself making a killer speech and you are now feeling pumped up. Then what? You still need to put in the work, you havn’t magically gained some energy that will automatically translate into a great presentation. It’s not just about visualizing what a great presentation is, it’s also visualizing how you do it. Golf players don’t just visualize themselves potting the ball, they visualize all the steps in between from the first swing to getting on the green. Then they put the practice in.
August 29, 2007 at 02:31PM
Thanks for a thoughtful response to that piece. I want to clarify a bit regarding habits.
It’s not that I think the productivity habit is totally wrong-headed. I have a great respect for building routines and work hard at it in my own life. My issue is that it’s only half an answer, and nobody seems to be addressing in any systemic way how to build routines that remain open to innovation and new data. As you say, constant experimentation is a productivity-killer, yet that seems to be the only prescription for dealing with the mix of habit and the unexpected that is demanded of today’s knowledge workers.
Thanks again!
August 29, 2007 at 04:03PM
Regarding branding, I think it can be very helpful identifying who you are and then communicating that well. Not a false image, but the true self.
August 29, 2007 at 06:04PM
I agree with your comments on mindmapping. I’ve tried it, and my conclusion has been that I organize hierarchically and use my extra creative cycles to see the interrelations. Mindmapping doesn’t help that process. In fact, I get too focused on the process of mindmapping while not getting any bump in understanding. It definitely works for some people, just not me.
August 30, 2007 at 10:16AM
Thanks for the comments.
Rosemary, I agree that it is better to identify your true self and communicate that. It’s just a pity that big businesses have a preconceived notion of what personalities their staff should display. Some people are happy to do that. Me, I’d have to get paid a lot of money before I felt comfortable putting on a fake persona.
Dustin, you make a good point and I agree with you. I’d be curious to know how many people out there get stuck into their productivity habit so much that they have difficulties adapting to change. While I am nowadays comfortable with dealing with most things in a productive way (working out next actions, breaking projects down, etc.) I still have such a variety of stuff coming my way that I still have to think and analyze things. I suppose part of being productive is constantly analyzing your setup and looking for improvements so you are never set in your ways.
Rue, you make interesting points about mind mapping. I’d be keen to hear from people who do use the method effectively because I personally cannot see how it makes people more productive, except maybe at the most basic planning level.