A New Approach to Productivity
I want to talk a bit about scheduling and productivity.
In a world in which there is much to be done there appears to be an unspoken belief that the more full your calendar, the more productive you must be.
Well I call bulls*&%.
You might have a very full calendar and be a productive person. But the two facts are not necessarily linked. Your ability to be productive isn’t a function of how full your calendar is. Your calendar is filled up based on appointments you schedule, deadlines you have, and how you want to use your time. Your productivity, however, is a function of how you use your energy.
There is a concept that often gets overlooked when it comes to the use of energy. This is the concept of RHYTHM. The world in which we live seems to have forgotten the importance of rhythm, which is unfortunate, because rhythm matters, to say the least.
The truth is there is a natural rhythm built into the world. While our tendency as humans has gravitated towards scheduling our lives based on clock-watching and honouring the demands on our time, there’s something to be said for allowing your body and your surroundings to guide your timelines instead. Because here’s the thing: your body has natural times of productivity and times when it craves rest. When you can flow with what’s natural, you get more done.
Similarly, seasons have a natural rhythm, one that aligns with times of productivity, times of creativity, times of lounging. Tuning your radar into seasonal rhythms, paying attention to the energy that’s being called for, actually allows you to be a more effective, productive person in all that you do.
Basically what I’m saying is this: if being effective is important to you, if being efficient matters, if getting things done feels essential, then it actually behooves you to become aware of
a) your own natural rhythmic tendencies and
b) the natural rhythm inherent in the seasons.
When you align these rhythms with the clocks and calendars in your life, then you can turn up the dial – significantly – on your productivity and efficiency. You can actually build your life and its corresponding schedules in a way that makes you a more effective, efficient, productive individual. Moreover, while this is important information for all people, it is especially important for those in leadership roles. As a leader, when you can lead in alignment with the energy of seasons and rhythms, you set your teams up to be more productive as well.
Bottom-line: you’ve got a lot to do, a lot to accomplish. In light of this it can be very tempting to allow clocks and calendars to govern your life. There is, however, a far more effective guiding energy to incorporate into your world: this is the energy of natural rhythms. Pay attention to the natural rhythms of your mind and body. Use this as the measure of which projects to take on and when, what deadlines to set and how to schedule your life. Do this, and you’ll experience ease-filled productivity. Which, when all is said and done, is bliss.