How to Be Productive by Not Being Unproductive
The cheetah is the world’s fastest land animal. As the fascinating video clip in this article shows, this animal can really move. It seems clear that moving quickly is more productive—or is it? When humans do things more quickly, we tend to make more mistakes. We may get somewhere faster, but that somewhere may not be where we were hoping to go. Sometimes, slowing down is a far better way to be productive.
In fact, the biggest factor keeping us from being productive may be all the things we do that make us unproductive. Let’s face it: Few people go to sleep at night obsessing about having accomplished too much in too short a time span. Among the unproductive things people do are striving for perfection, holding meetings just to share information, and refusing to admit to being stuck.
We’re also unproductive when we play “productivity Whack-a-Mole,” hopping from one activity to another, spending time on whichever one rears its head. This is multitasking at its worst. The more hopping around you do, the less you accomplish overall. If this is a problem you face, each morning try preparing a task list and schedule that spells out all your important activities. By focusing on each one, one at a time, you’ll complete more of them than you would otherwise.
For some people, the very act of preparing a to-do list, even without a schedule, is a step toward improved productivity. If you’ve got total flexibility to do whatever you want whenever you want, then you can live a life free of to-do lists. For many of us, though, it’s the key to seeing what needs to be done and ensuring we do those things.
Inevitably, some days will just plain be unproductive, whether due to poor health, constant interruptions, depleted willpower, or any other reason. But don’t give up; you may be able to regain some productivity by taking a break, calling a friend, changing environments, or switching to another task. The key thing is not to let an unproductive day turn into an unproductive week or month.
By the way, most of the time, cheetahs don’t move as fast as they can. Speed, for them, isn’t a critical factor in hunting prey. What matters most is maneuverability, the ability to dodge and weave as they chase their prey. Moving too quickly makes maneuvering harder, and therefore the ability to slow down before a turn is what’s important. Maybe we can learn a few things from cheetahs!
