We usually believe that productivity is based on two factors: quantity and speed. The more work you do, and the faster you do it, the more productive you are. This mindset will result in an overflowing schedule, unrealistic task lists and an endless loop of more work to do, because you are simply anticipating and generating more work than you should.
Besides the obvious consequence of burnout, you are actually decreasing the quality of the work you’re doing. Instead of completing fewer high quality projects, you’re completing more average quality projects. The more average quality projects you complete, the more you’ll need to prove to others . And the more you need to prove, the more you’ll work. And the more you’ll work, the more average your work will be. As you can see, this mindset is a loop and once you get there, it will be hard to get out of it.
Time is fixed” but your energy and focus levels are not. This means that despite an increase in your working hours, your output will not increase proportionately. This happens because your brain is not able to keep the same level of focus at the end of the day, and will require more energy to tackle a task you would easily complete during the morning – that is, if you’re a morning person, of course. If you are more prone to reaching a productivity peak in the evening, that scheme will probably be inverted in your case.
To save time, you need to eliminate any non essential tasks in your workday. This is how you try to overcome that wrong mindset about productivity – that more done, in less time is being productive. The idea here is not to do more things; but the right things. This is exactly what is discussed in Essentialism as well as Deep Work – identifying key tasks to focus on and trimming away everything else is what will make your work more valuable and increase the overall quality of your projects.
Ekanthika 