The Big Takeaway
Welcome back to Productivity, Without Privilege.
I’m Alan, I’m your host. Pull up a seat, I’ll get you something to drink. Maybe a snack? You might need one, because this week I want to talk about something basic, but really important when it comes to the way you engage with any “productivity” discourse, whether it’s about doing more stuff at work, or organizing your to-dos at home. Ready?
Oh, hang on. I need to remind you to pre-order my book, Seen, Heard, Paid: The New Work Rules for the Marginalized. Would you be so kind? Maybe tell a friend? Thank you so much.
Now then, let’s start with "the big takeaway:"
Productivity isn’t about just endlessly getting stuff done. It’s about getting the things you have to do done so you can spend time on the things that actually matter to you.
This is really important to remember, and it’s the guiding principle behind all of the productivity advice I try to give people. Sure, you can take these skills and use them to work, forever, likely for a boss or a company that cares as much for you as they do about the level of effort it would take to replace you, or—and stick with me here—or you could take the time you get back by learning to streamline your efforts and spend it with your loved ones. You could travel the world. You could write a book. You could take care of your health.
You could, heaven forbid, put it into the things you actually care about. The bucket-list items, the personal to-dos, the things you always wanted to do but never seemed to have time to do.
Here’s the problem: So much of the productivity industry is designed otherwise though. It’s designed to encourage you to keep trying to-do apps to find one that’ll make your life just that much easier. It’s designed to encourage you to buy a book that outlines a productivity technique, try it, discover it doesn’t quite work for you, then buy another. And another. It is, because of course it is, an industry designed to make you keep coming back for tips and tricks, and never (as it really ought to) put itself out of a job.
So this week, I challenge you to consider whether you’re actually enjoying the time you’re getting back from all of the effort you put into optimizing your work. If you’re thinking about downloading a new app or trying a new productivity method you read about, ask yourself what you’ll do with the time you get back from that change. I know it sounds backward, like trying to cash the check before it’s written, but in this case, you’re about to do work to make doing work easier and faster. It’s only natural to think about how you’ll benefit from the change.
“But Alan,” you may be saying, “The time itself is the benefit! I’ve made a task faster or easier, isn’t that its own reward?” Not really. Especially not when you’re working, and your time already belongs to your employer. In those cases, the time you get back is usually just reinvested into something else you have to do for work anyway. Now, we can talk about how you can reinvest that time in a way that actually helps you later, but for now, focus instead on how you’ll take all that time you’re saving and put it into yourself and your own growth. After all, if you’re not learning to work faster so you can spend less time working and more time doing things that matter to you, then who are you doing it for?
[ Worth Reading ]
A Woman of Color Cannot Save Your Workplace Culture, by S. Mitra Kalita: I’m lucky to know, even professionally, Mitra, and in this piece in Time, she explains why diversity and inclusion are both important and also a stepping stone and not a destination. Mitra offers some tips to support the women of color at your workplace, who definitely need it. No, trust me, I know. They’re likely already either ignored, treated poorly, and/or marginalized.
When Women of Color Get Asked to Do Office Housework, by Ruchika Tulshyan: Ruchika is an incredible person, and an incredible leader, and this edition from her newsletter, Inclusion Is Leadership, is worth your time. She outlines the difference between office housework and glamour work, something I talk about in my book at length, largely thanks to her expertise and input on the topic. She expertly describes an issue in virtually every workplace that for a long time I never had language to describe.
In Defense of Lifehacking by Whitson Gordon: My friend (and often colleague) Whitson wrote this piece at Lifehacker back in 2013 the last time there was a bit of a discourse about the value of productivity methods and techniques. It touches on a lot of the topics I discussed here, but in greater detail, and it holds up, even after...almost 9 years.
[See You Space Cowboy]
Now then. This section is a little recommendation for you - something small that I think will make your life better, since, well, that’s my entire thing and all: trying to make your life a little better.
This week, if you have a moment, go follow my friend Karen Ho’s Twitter bot, the Doomscrolling Reminder Bot, which, as the name implies, reminds you to stop doomscrolling and do something good for yourself. Whether it’s going to sleep, logging off of Twitter, drinking a big glass of water, or something else.
Oh, and buy my book? Please? Thank you! And thank you for subscribing.