Two hats to productivity
Welcome to the year 2024. Let’s get back to work. It’s Productivity Week here on the blog.
Productivity is a measure of how much we can get out of our time and money.
Two hats to productivity:
These are all chores: clearing my inbox or responding to comments on a document, making lunch.
The backbone of productivity in the industrial sector is chores. We can measure, check off and stack them up.
We all do chores. You can start using this method immediately.
The other hat looks completely different.
This is the hat for initiative.
Find a new challenge to solve.
New tools are always being developed.
We ask questions even when we don’t know the answer.
Launching a project that may not succeed.
The temptation to do chores is strong when you stare into the bottomless pit of lack of initiative. They put us on solid ground.
Neil Gaiman’s solution to writer’s blocks is simple: He locks himself in a room with no work. No websites to visit, no emails that need to be answered. There is nothing productive to be done except take initiative.
It is difficult to wear two hats simultaneously.
