This is a guest-post from Jon Gatrell @ spatiallyrelevant.org - many thanks to Stephen for the opportunity and the subject! @Stephen was kind enough to remind me of a very simple blogging basic - build and extend ideas for your readers, the piece he thought might best be extended was 10 Tips to Deal with the Fact You Will Never leave Your Job.
Complacency is a really interesting thing - it’s comfortable - like that old quilt you have for cold and rainy days when you settle in will movies, soup and sleep. While this post is an extension of a previous piece, as recommended by Stephen, the original concept was originally focused at your career, this is more so about that high tide and low tide of productivity we seem to always move between in all aspects of life.
With the increasingly short attention span of folk, sometimes we are just as likely to move on to something else when we hit one of those tough spots in a gig - nothing to write, a really tough task or a seemingly useless hoop which just has to be jumped through. Even in lower supply than our attention, is our time - so find a way to keep the momentum on a project, task or even a hobby because you ain’t getting your time back team.
Productivity is often a sine curve - the good with the bad, the mountains with the valleys. The productivity is nothing when it is something we like, new or challenging; however the biggest challenge is what to do in the trough of productivity. Those low productivity times are great for procrastination, low quality and limited creativity - sounds like FUN!
The productivity trough requires continued effort and initiative to move out of and begin that ascend to the peak - when it is just a little more fun. As I look historically at my less motivated moments on projects or in life, I find it is the opportunities when I engaged other people, enriched the effort and found something to enjoy along the way is when moving from zero to something was a bunch easier. The easiest way is to change the way you look at something. There is little to no fun in lack of progress and getting all OCD on what’s left to be done. Baby steps help too.
Engage
To break out of a productivity slump I just do the 3 E’s, engage, enrich and enjoy. I’m a knowledge junkie, so engage is really going out a getting input from other folks. There are great number of folks doing good things all over the place and they just might be working on something close to what you are working on, so seek them out. I reach out to other authors, my circle of friends and randoms to get a fresh view on something.
Engaging for me is reading, asking questions and looking for divergent views. By triangulating on content inputs, I often find I can quickly qualify ideas, find creative solutions and enhancements which I wouldn’t have gotten via my own thought process. Once you are engaged and building a baseline, it is now time to enhance the subject your writing about, the task at hand or the project which you never seem to start. What can YOU bring to a situation to create unique value?
Enrich
Typically engage is held as being part of the conversation in the social media world, but I would offer that without adding value to the conversation, it becomes difficult to see engagement as a value added activity. It is different points of view and taking the conversation somewhere else which is valuable. Plenty of folks engage in the conversation, but what is the value is statements like “I defer to the majority” or “Whatever is fine by fine” or “I look forward to the final copy” - these acknowledgments are certainly engaged, but not very productive or value add. To move out of the trough, you need to put in a little energy and get the benefit of making something different, better or just having a meaningful impact on the final product.
Got a little too social media/bloggy there. So what is the project equivalent of conversing without enriching the discussion? Doing something in a mechanical, lack luster way — Phoning it in or taking a spaghetti approach - just throwing it out and seeing what sticks. Not a whole lot of fun in that.
Enjoy
How much time do you spend executing towards getting something done? All the time, I suspect - chores, work, hobbies and even when you are at play - these is a little bit of goal oriented effort. So is the enjoyment in the process, progress or the end product? For me it should be all three, but rarely is - so I take it where I can get. That’s the odd thing about doing things - you never really know if you will really enjoy it unless you engage and attempt to enrich a situation.
If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5edxhh. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen
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July 19th, 2008 by Stephen
I am a small business Conversation Consultant and public speaker that uses the power of the internet to leverage your success. Productivity in Context is a web magazine focused on Productivity and tools for organizing. Make this your headquarters for improving your life and work through increased mindfulness, education, and workflow practices.
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It’s tough. It’s hard to be able to keep focused on your goals, Getting Things Done, and feel a sense of accomplishment. If anyone tells you otherwise, they have not walked in your shoes.
