Being Productive May Be Making You Ineffective

You know that feeling: when there’s more to do than time to do it? And you wake up after your most productive day ever, realizing you have to repeat the effort just to keep up?

One outcome of a marketplace that idolizes productivity is that productivity becomes our metric for success. We get pushed outside of attentive effort, trying to do more in less time—which is ultimately unsustainable, and exasperating.

We end up like a hamster.

In a wheel.

Furiously going nowhere fast.

Operating inattentively, outside of flow, distracts us into mistaking activity for achievement, and productivity for effectiveness.

“We get pushed outside of attentive effort, trying to do more in less time—which is ultimately unsustainable, and exasperating.”

And Your Point Is...?

If your approach to your work is to excel at managing your to-do’s, there’s a good chance you’re excelling at the wrong things.

So What?

Instead of starting with what needs to get done, start with how you get things done. I describe this as “calendaring energy.” In other words, set aside the time in your calendar that you work most effectively, then prioritize the work that goes in those calendar slots.

Personally, I’m most clear-headed in the early morning. So that’s when I focus on tasks requiring creativity or critical thinking. As the day goes on I focus on execution-oriented tasks, finally finishing with admin or tasks that require very little creative energy. By dinner time, my energy tank is usually empty.

“If your approach to your work is to excel at managing your to-do’s, there’s a good chance you’re excelling at the wrong things.”

Knowing I have specific windows in which to accomplish my priorities makes the choice of tasks—and how I do them—extremely important. It makes it easier to say no to things I previously said yes to, and I’m more aware of inefficiencies in my approach to work.

Obviously, your mileage will vary with a different environment (kids, fluid work conditions, non-traditional working hours, commuting, etc.). If you’re a night person, your energy levels may be opposite from mine.

Even so, I’m confident you can still find ways to work energy-first from your calendar.

“Instead of starting with what needs to get done, start with how you get things done”

The Big Picture

Ultimately, the prize doesn’t go to the fastest hamster. It goes to the one who’s most effective at leveraging their talents, gifting and experience to the fullest—in a way that aligns with their purpose and calling.

Your Next Step

My advice: Just begin. Start small, be patient and see what happens.

Here’s a longer article on this topic at Medium.com, or you can download a pdf.

“Ultimately, the prize doesn’t go to the fastest hamster.”

Need some practical help on this?

Here’s a resource I’ve found that supports calendaring your energy:

It’s All About the Heart

One of the things I enjoy about cycling is the satisfaction I get from increasing my speed over previous rides. But only using speed to evaluate performance can be misleading. One recent ride (re)taught me an important lesson.

I was making great progress on the outbound leg. My average speed was up four mph and my legs felt strong. But on the way back my exhilaration turned to discouragement as the ride got much harder. I struggled with every pedal stroke to keep my speed up. I immediately chalked it up to starting out too fast and using up my energy. An obvious conclusion, right?

Wrong. I’d failed to realize that the winds had changed. What was calm winds at the start of the ride turned into a stiff headwind by the time I turned and started for home. Now failing to keep pace, I quickly became demoralized and disappointed in my performance.

And Your Point Is…?

Leadership headwinds make almost everything harder.

“Only using speed to evaluate performance can be misleading.”

So What?

A couple of points to draw here. First, there’s no getting around it: Headwinds suck. Leadership will have both easy and challenging experiences. You can’t just hope for tailwinds all the time. We must deal with headwinds when (not if) they occur.

Second, it’s important to know where to focus in a headwind. Monitoring speed kept telling me I was failing. But my heart was actually getting a great workout. In cycling, a strong heart is the ultimate goal: Only an aerobically-fit heart will position me to ride further and faster. While it’s relatively easy to strengthen legs, hearts only get stronger when tested over longer periods of time and through increasingly difficult challenges.

“You can’t just hope for tailwinds all the time.”

We all have a natural bias for (and often against) one discipline over the other. Our default behaviors eventually become predictable and stale. Then when the pressure’s on we double-down on our default discipline. We over-rely on its strengths and its weaknesses show up as glaring gaps in our leadership competency.

Our team feels either the chaos that comes from over-leading or the irrelevance that comes from over-managing. They get demotivated and disengage, eventually losing trust in us. Consciously or unconsciously, they choose not to follow us.

Over-relying on your leadership or management makes you a one-trick pony. You can’t be effective, no matter how capable, intelligent, extroverted, correct or successful you are.

“Without leadership, organizations don’t drive results and they become unresponsive to customers and marketplace opportunities.”

The Big Picture

It’s helpful to remember that headwinds are exercising different parts of your leadership, beyond productivity. Headwinds deepen things like resiliency, creativity, collaboration, communication, attitude, endurance, prioritization, resolve, commitment, drive … all of which are key leadership qualities that rarely—if ever—get developed in a tailwind.

Your Next Step

Lead yourself. If you can’t encourage yourself, manage your own expectations, cut yourself a break, engage your creativity, adapt your approach, keep yourself in a positive mindset, … how will you be able to lead your team when they encounter headwinds? You’ll need to be able to do more than tell them to pedal harder.

“You’ll need to be able to do more than tell them to pedal harder.”

Don’t be discouraged in a headwind—and it’s training you.

Want More Leadership Insights From Riding a Bike?

What Commuting Taught Me About Leadership – You See What You Look For

Recently I left a job at a great company but with a long daily commute. This is the 5th post of an 8-blog series on things I learned about leadership on those long and tedious hours on the road.
– – – – –

To avoid the bulk of the traffic (and the accompanying delays), I went into work early. Many times this meant driving in the dark, when you can’t see as well. Or see as much. Or as far.

Or even more weirdly, you tend to see only the things you expect to see.

I worked for a logistics company, so it was a fairly common experience to see golf carts driving around the campus. One dark morning after entering the facility, I was surprised by a cart that “suddenly” appeared in front of me. Even though I was undistracted and watching for traffic, and despite the fact that the cart had its headlights on and a flashing orange light on the top, I didn’t see it until it was very close to me.

Reflecting on it later, I realized I didn’t see it because I was looking for cars, not golf carts.

And Your Point Is…?

When you’re driving hard and your perspective gets limited, you tend to see only what you’re looking for.

“I didn’t see it because I was looking for cars, not golf carts”

So What?

As a cyclist I can attest to being on the other side of this phenomena. Sometimes people driving cars simply don’t see bicycles (or motorcycles or pedestrians) because they’re looking for what they expect to see: other cars.

This is a human tendency that influences us at almost every level. It shows up when we keep a pessimistic, glass-half-empty perspective. It happens when we overlook opportunities. It contributes to having a fixed mindset. It reveals itself when we judge prematurely or act on a bias. It shows up when we’re stuck in a limiting habit we don’t even know exists. It happens when we get into conflict with others. It happens when we drive hard for results or achievement.

In other words, it can happen anywhere, anytime.

But it doesn’t have to.

“It can happen anywhere, anytime. But it doesn’t have to”

The Big Picture

It’s human nature: We choose to see what we see. So it’s a discipline to begin looking objectively, rather than selectively. It requires staying in a constant state of curiosity to look beyond what we expect. It’s the curious ones who are usually in a better position to solve problems, innovate, collaborate, excel and influence.

If you’re leading others, it’s all the more vital that you see the obvious things other people can’t—or won’t.

Your Next Step

What is one thing you can do maintain a base level of curiosity?

“If you’re leading others, it’s all the more vital that you see the obvious things other people can’t—or won’t.”

Want more leadership insights?

Check out: