Productivity is all over the internet these days.
I certainly fall victim to it as well.
Trying to time-block every minute of my day, finding the perfect morning routine, finding the perfect note-taking app, etc.
It feels productive on the surface — at a deeper level, it doesn’t move the needle.
Productivity is not a tool problem — it’s an emotional problem:
1. What truly matters
Over-optimizing for productivity is like stepping over dollars to picking pennies…
There are dozens of different productivity techniques out there.
They can all be helpful, however, the foundation of productivity is not about the specific techniques, but the underlying principles.
Let’s define productivity as doing more of what matters to you.
Then the productivity challenge is to align what you are doing in this moment with what you want to accomplish or what matters to you .
Productivity is not a complicated science. It’s as simple as:
- Setting 1 or 2 priorities for the day of things that matter to you. (Prioritization)
- Doing them without getting distracted. (Focus)
- Repeat. (Consistency)
And I say “things that matter to you”, because that’s what means to be productive.
If you don’t care about programming, but spend your day programming, is it really being productive? I don’t think so.
If you value family time, and you are spending your time with family, you are indeed being productive.
Productivity is not about working more. Productivity is about spending your time doing what you value and what matters to you.
2. The problem with the ‘optimizers’
Optimizing every minute of life seems like a smart thing to do on the surface.
But in reality, it’s a very dangerous way of being.
When every minute of your life is in service of optimizing for more output, you lose the notion of what it means to be human.
- We don’t go for a walk to enjoy it anymore, but to optimize for productivity.
- We rest and relax not to enjoy it, but of course, to optimize productivity between work.
We don’t go for a walk to enjoy it anymore, but to optimize for productivity.
We rest and relax not to enjoy it, but of course, to optimize productivity between work.
Life does not ask to be optimized. — and you can’t really optimize it.
Sure, we can try to create systems and some structure in our life, that will give us some notion that we are in control .
But the reality is that trying to control every aspect of life, is a path that will lead to much unnecessary suffering — because life by nature is always unpredictable.
The takeaway?
Don’t optimize every moment; embrace life’s natural unpredictability. You will become more lighter, happier, and energised which ultimately will make you more productive by default.
Bringing it home
Productivity is not complicated: Setting priorities for the day (Prioritization); Doing them without getting distracted. (Focus); Repeat. (Consistency)
Optimizing every minute of life it’s a dangerous way of being: embrace life’s natural unpredictability and you will become more energized, happier, and productive along the way.
Choose one insight from today and take action on it.
Last week’s newsletter was about he 3-step framework I use to deal with conflicting information.
In case you missed it, here’s your chance to catch up → 3-step framework to deal with conflicting information
I hope you got something valuable in this edition of Curiosity Fuel, and thank you for reading, it means the world.
It’s always an honor to be in your inbox, until next Sunday. 👋
— Idris Moura
