Previously I believed in the more, more, more methodology when it comes to getting things done. This consisted of reading more, consuming more, studying more, researching more, and doing more. But, soon realized that when doing so much leads to exhaustion, burnout, and actually getting less done.
By doing more could it actually mean accomplishing less?
While it doesn’t sound right, this post will help to answer that question.
I know how to be productive, and efficient, focus on what matters and get deep work done consistently. While I enjoy talking about how to improve your productivity each day, today I want to focus on the 3 biggest myths of productivity.
Now a myth is a widely held but false belief or idea about something.
These 3 myths are important to know because once you do, you can either avoid them altogether or stop doing them!
If you want to have a successful career, enjoy your job, and accomplish BIG goals in your life, you need to be operating at the highest level possible.
Here are the 3 biggest myths of productivity (read until the end as I’ll share ways to overcome these!)
You may be wondering how odd this first myth sounds. You may be skeptical at first, but hear me out.
I used to believe doing more was always the answer.
I need to be busy, I need to read more books, watch more videos, and complete more training to up all of my skills.
The result? I was overwhelmed, I procrastinated, and I didn’t know what to take action on.
Doing more to accomplish more is the old-school mentality and way of thinking.
I worked in aviation for over 13 years and this was the way. It was thought that if you didn’t take breaks, days off, and vacations you were tough. You were a hard worker, and you got way, way more done.
True? Hell no.
The people who followed this mentality and set of rules always accomplished less. These people spent more time wasting time. They talked more, and complained more, yet thought they were doing the right thing and working productively.
Why this matters - the do more, accomplish more way of thinking is old, tired, and broken.
It’s not efficient, not productive, and frankly wastes a lot of your time, when you could be doing something more meaningful.
Doing less to accomplish more sounds silly, but it’s not. And that’s because you’re not only doing less, but you must focus on the RIGHT tasks.
Doing more of everything doesn’t help anyone, especially you.
Figure out what are the top 3 critical items that need to get done. Focus on these.
Don’t let the other 15-20 tasks bother you and waste your time.
I’ve found that most people aren’t productive because they’re always looking to do more of everything.
The good news is, you don’t need to! But, you do need to know what tasks are the most crucial.
This myth used to drive me crazy when I was trying to gain experience in my career.
I had the great opportunity at working at a bunch of different companies, in a bunch of different places, that do things differently.
When I worked at companies where some of their employees only worked for one company, they only knew how to do something the way they were taught by this one company.
I was fortunate because I was able to learn from not only one person or company, but several different ones.
This gave me a huge advantage because I knew there are many different ways to get to the same end result.
I learned from many different people with experience levels all over the map. I took what was the best from all of them and then had the ultimate tools at my disposal.
While some people like to think (my way or the highway), there are a ton of different ways something can be done.
By keeping your mind open to possibilities and trying something in a new way, you will be open to learning more, learning faster, and getting more done.
Ideally, you want to avoid thinking the way YOU accomplish a task is the only and BEST way to do it.
There are likely many different ways to do it, and many different people have tried different methods.
Great companies, organizations, and leaders should be open to new ideas and different ways of doing things. This is why brainstorming and working in a team setting can deliver better results faster.
When you have multiple people and minds working in different ways of thinking, you’re sure to get a multitude of different answers.
I used to do this one as well. I would try and check off twenty-plus tasks a day, some meaningful and many of them not.
The biggest objection I hear from clients, friends, and various people in my life is that they don’t have time to take on anything else.
They don’t have time to invest in themselves, to take a course to up their skills, because frankly, they don’t have any time at all.
When you focus on everything at once what you’re really doing is focusing on very little.
You don’t have the capacity to do everything at a top-notch level, it’s quite the opposite.
Focusing on everything is the killer of productivity and if you have no free time you need to take a good hard look at your schedule and see where you can get some back.
Saying no has helped me to focus on less. I get bombarded with DMs, emails, and messages every day from people looking to steal my time.
I’m very diligent about who gets my time each day because if I say yes to everything and everyone, I wouldn’t have time for myself.
And I truly believe that self-care must come first if you want to help anyone else.
If you’re currently saying yes to everything and have no time, take a step back. Figure out what you need to do and start saying no.
Being productive is really important to me and it should also be important to you. That’s why you want to avoid these 3 productivity-killing myths at once!
Remember, you don’t need to do more, to get more done. There isn’t only one right way of doing something, there are many. And if you focus on everything at once, you’re really focusing on nothing.
Being efficient is critical to do more deep work. And being productive is critical to being efficient.
Chris M Wilson
Chris Wilson is a keynote speaker, CTI coach, and entrepreneur. Through his Hover to Fly framework, he aims to impact the next generation in their careers and lives.
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