Hey there fellow Apprentices,
In this week’s discussion I’m going to cover something a little different as your sole author. In this piece I’ll be exploring why I believe our modern obsession with the pursuit of optimisation & efficiency is at it’s best misguided and at it’s worst detrimental to our long-term happiness.
It’s a perspective I started to explore after reading “Do Nothing” by Celeste Headlee while on a 3-day digital detox in one of the Unplugged cabins (highly recommend). In those short 72 hours I felt my brain truly relax and the stress I hadn’t realised existed leave my body for the first time in forever.
As a recovering workaholic, who still finds it difficult to truly switch off and to enjoy their “leisure”, the experience was a game changer. One that had a profound impact on how I view the endless pursuit of doing more in less time.
Which is exactly what I’m going to share with you today.
Introduction
Look, I get it. Life is there to be seized.
There are so many experiences to be had, businesses to be built and people to impact, but so little time to do it all. The world feels infinitely full of opportunities just waiting for you to reach out and seize them. If only you had those extra hours… then you’d be able to learn that skill, read that book and realise the potential you know you have.
It’s this promise of “doing more in less time” that ensnares us in the pursuit of optimisation and efficiency at all costs. One more cheat sheet… One more productivity tool… One more Ali Abdaal video… Only then we can lay claim to a god-like command of our every waking hour that will enable us to do everything we’ve ever wanted to and more. And more. And more…
Because “success” means doing MORE.
Having morning routines that start at 5am, running three businesses at the same time and appearing on your favourite podcasts. And how you get there is by using your 24 hours in the most productive way over a long period of time. That’s the secret …right? …right? …right?
Not exactly. As with everything in life, it’s not that simple.
The 5 Problems with Productivity
Being productive is a tool that can quickly become an obsession by promising us that happiness is just one small tweak away. And I’ve got a problem with it.
In fact, I’ve actually got five. Here they are:
Assumed Success
Copying a “successful” person’s routine won’t make you successful, because their routine of today isn’t the one they used to get there. You’re looking at a person who is decades of learning ahead of you and trying to short-cut the process by understanding how they spend their time today.
If you want a more accurate picture, plot where you are against their journey and find out what “productivity hacks” they were doing when their days looked like yours currently do. This will give you a realistic answer that you can learn from. And will help you to avoid embracing the schedules and tools of those with disproportionately different team sizes, financial security and opportunities available to them.
But, also remember just because it worked for them, it doesn’t mean it will work for you. Times have changed. They always will. So, learn what you can from them, apply it yourself and find your way of living an effective life.
Conditional Happiness
Every time we commit to an optimisation of our time, we make an agreement with ourselves to not be happy until we’ve achieved the goal. Whether it’s building a productivity system, completing the same activity in half the time or adding one more habit to our morning routine… the outcome is the same.
This leaves us with only two possible results. In the first we achieve the productivity increase we seek only to then become unsatisfied again in the pursuit of that next 1% improvement. In the second we miss the target and turn into our worst enemy, lamenting ourselves for not being good enough to do this one simple thing.
The first is infinite, meaning the second is inevitable. The pursuit of productivity will eventually set the bar to robot-like standards that cannot withstand even the tiniest random life event occurring.
Ignoring Your Body
Burnout has become a badge of honour. Worn by those who shout from the rooftops about constantly doing more. They say “yes” to everything, jumping from one idea to the next until their burnout becomes all but inevitable. They then take a few days off to reset, only to pick up the same habits on their return, thereby starting the loop all over again.
The problem is that too often the warning signs were there are along. From the constant illness to the lack of motivation, its clear to everyone but yourself that something needs to change in your life.
But, the pursuit of productivity blinds you to your body, defining it’s every signal as “laziness” that can be pushed through. The physical and mental challenges you face are symptoms that your body is trying to alert you to. Ignoring them for another day only prolongs the issue until it becomes detrimental to your physical or mental health.
Too Long-term Focused
Being productive often means sacrificing the short-term in pursuit of the long-term. Sacrifice is the name of the game. And you’re the main character.
This long-term thinking can be perfect when we’re clear on who we are and where we want to go in life. But, it can also be a burden if we’re crippled with shiny object syndrome, striving for one future after another and giving everything up to get there.
Understanding the short-term sacrifices that are necessary for the goals you’re looking to achieve in life needs to be your starting point. Is it all worth it? Or did you get tricked into optimising for just one more achievement that doesn’t move you any closer to the person you want to become?
More Isn’t Always Better
Productivity is the pursuit of doing more in less time. By adopting it as a goal for yourself, you are embracing the desire to do “more”. Which is a vague, unattainable goal that can always be compared to that one person who’s doing even more than you are.
But, that’s not even the worst part. Doing more can actually be detrimental. Especially if it means doing more of the wrong thing that leads you even further down a path that’s not actually right for you. You’ll get one step closer in the most productive way towards a life you don’t even want.
Sometimes it’s the disciplined pursuit of less that leads to the greatest changes in our happiness. Taking the time to get laser focused on where you want to spend your time before investing in it will save you countless hours, days, months or even years in the long run.
The Painkillers to Productivity
But what alternative is there for an ambitious person like yourself who wants to realise your potential and achieve your life purpose? Well, let me explain a few tweaks that could be the change you’re looking for…
Define Your Version of Success
Success is a concept with an infinite number of definitions. It can mean a high-flying corporate job with a wife and two kids to one person and saving enough to explore the world in a van to another.
Often it’s linked to happiness. But, there’s a problem even here. What makes you happy won’t necessarily make me happy. There are some basics that I’m sure we share (ie. enough money to live comfortably & friends who are there for us in hard times), but there are countless others that we don’t.
Before you go headfirst into optimising your life for efficiency, get clear on the life you actually want to live first. Get inspired by others, but write down in your own words what it means to be “successful”.
For you need to define your version of success before you live someone else’s.
Understand The Importance of Leverage
Leverage is what will actually give you the super-human ability to achieve your goals in drastically less time. It will enable you to “work while you sleep” and avoid trading your fully optimised time for money.
Here are the 3 forms of leverage:
Labour - Delegate to other people who can do the work for you.
Money - Invest to multiply a clear return on investment.
Product - Create digital products once to distribute everywhere.
Find a way to create books, media, movies and code. Then get them in-front of an audience who are ready to buy them and the zero marginal cost of production will enable you to create once & sell an infinite number of times.
Focus on What Matters First
Get clear on what actually moves the needle towards your version of success. Apply Pareto’s 80:20 law and learn what’s a requirement and what’s a distraction in your life. Only once you know what’s important is it actually worth pursuing any kind of productivity with it.
Choose to Go Slower
Try deciding to consciously take your time. Explore enjoying the here and now while it lasts and see how it sits with you. Because if it takes an extra few years, but you don’t sacrifice your friends, family and happiness along the way isn’t that actually a better outcome?
Life doesn’t stop at 30. You have the time.
Summary
Let’s get this clear - productivity is not a “bad thing”.
I’m not suggesting that you give up the improvement of yourself and live focused on short-term pleasure over long-term achievement.
That’s not it all.
Instead, I’m advocating for a healthy relationship with productivity so that it can be used as a tool to advance you one step closer to a version of success that you have defined on your terms. I’m asking for you to question whether more is always better and if going a little slower and focusing on building your leverage might be a more sustainable long-term strategy.
But, what are your thoughts? Is productivity the best thing since sliced bread or is it an overhyped tactical solution to a strategic problem?