Today’s topic is heresy, pure and simple. Yes, I have a super-successful podcast about personal productivity. But oddly, I’m not a huge proponent of unbridled productivity. Today, we’re going to explore why. This is the stuff they made me take out of the first draft of my book, Get-it-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More, for fear it was too controversial!
My Stance on Morality
In the last few decades, employers figured out that you could work salaried employers harder and harder without paying them anything extra. By increasing productivity, they could pay everyone the same, but make a lot more profit for shareholders.
So for years now, we’ve preached the gospel of productivity, without mentioning better pay or shorter hours. Personally, I think you should share in any benefit created by your productivity.
Now that you know where I stand, let’s get down to what it means to be productive.
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How Productivity Should Work
Let's say you currently do 20 units of work each day. It would take 5 days to produce 100 units. But then, say you figure out how to increase efficiency to 25 units a day. Now, you can produce 100 units in 4 days. So you should get the 5th day off with pay, since you are still producing the same amount for the company, right?
Or, you can still work five days a week, but now you’re producing 125 units. That means the company is selling 25% more, and thus getting that much more profit. You’re still working five days, but you should be getting some part of that profit, since you’re producing more in the same amount of time.
Not in the 21st century, you don’t! Instead, the company sees that you can produce 25 more units a day, so they fire your cubicle mate (who never bathed, so you’re glad they’re gone) and expect the newly-productive you to cover both jobs. No raise, of course. All the profits go to the company and shareholders. After all, you should be happy you still have a job.
Make Productivity Look Inefficient
When you get more productive, what does that actually look like? You finish your work more quickly, and have more free time. You grab your latest copy of X-Men, put your feet up on your desk, and start reading. Why? Because you’re more productive, that’s why!
But your boss seems something different. There you are, reading a comic book with your feet on the desk. Do they think, “Now there’s a productive employee who deserves a raise!” Of course not. They think, “Why did I get stuck with this lazy jerk who isn’t working hard? I need to reduce their salary or give them more work.”
This happened at my first job. My manager chastised me for not working weekends. I pointed out that I got all my work done during the work week, and had met every single goal on schedule. He didn’t care. Seeing me working Saturdays was how he judged productivity. Actual work output had nothing to do with it.
When you find a way to increase your productivity, do it, but don’t make it obvious. If there’s any way to work from home part time, do it. Then, you can do your super-productive work while you’re at home, and as far as anyone else knows, you’re putting in a full 8-hour day. In reality, you’re doing 8 hours of work in 23 minutes, and then relaxing in the hot tub you built with all that time you saved.
If you must work at the office, get your work done in 20 minutes and spend the rest of the day rushing around with a worried expression, clearly "being productive." Or actually be productive, but in a way that serves you.
Advance your career by building strong relationships with others in the company, learning new skills, and making contacts throughout your industry. That way, when your boss is feeling threatened by how productive you look (not how productive you are) and tries to sabotage your career, you can call on your allies to have your boss banished to the fiery pits of Mordor, while you get a promotion.
Guard Your Slack
You may want to let people know your productivity has given you more time, so they give you more to do. You won’t get paid more, but you can start building your empire. And soon, everything will be under control...your control...
But beware! Your great productivity tools and techniques may help you juggle 20 different projects without dropping them, so you will feel powerful! You will feel great! But be afraid. Be very afraid. Those projects are covered with razor-sharp spikes, and they can land on your feet if you drop them.
It starts with a tiny fluctuation: Project 1 is delayed a day because the Oompa Loompas are on strike. So you have to delay the project 1 launch a week. But that pushes it right into the project 5 requirements-gathering phase. You reschedule requirements to the following week … which is the wrap-up for project 9. One minor Oompa Loompa labor dispute causes a domino effect among 19 unrelated projects. Guess who gets crushed under the final domino? That would be you.
Make sure that even if you choose to use your productivity to take on more work, you leave enough slack in your responsibilities so you can handle the unexpected. Slack time isn’t a luxury; it’s a critical part of successful project management.
Check Your Destination
Once you’re uber-productive, you’ll get where you’re going much faster. That’s a good thing if you're going towards a wondrous land of milk and honey. You’ll get there really fast! Or maybe it’s not so great: have you ever slammed into a vat of milk and honey at 60 miles per hour? It’s not pleasant. It only sounds fun if you don’t think about it too closely.
Ask yourself regularly, “If I’m more productive at what I’m doing, where will I end up?” You might end up tied to a single project for the next five years, because you’re too valuable where you are. Or if your team is slated for extermina–I mean layoff–after you release your project, then the faster it launches, the faster you’re out of a job.
If you’re self-employed, check your destination often. You might get so productive with social media, for example, that you send out a gazillion tweets in just an hour a week. That’s 52 hours per year. And if tweets don’t get you business, it’s 52 hours per year wasted. Efficiently.
Productivity is great, but only when you share the benefit. Make sure others perceive you as productive, not lazy. Keep busy with your free time, either by working from home and turning free time into quality of life, or building stronger relationships at the office. If you take on more work, preserve your slack time. And most of all, make sure that the productivity is taking you somewhere worthwhile.
Be sure to check out WorkLessAndDoMore.com, to see a video clip from my informational, dramatic, inspiring two-person musical about personal productivity, finding your path in life, and zombies.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock
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