Debunking 3 Deceptive Myths About Productivity
And what you should focus on instead
Let’s get one thing straight: We all want to be more productive to achieve more of what we seek all the time. With the boom of technology, the modern work culture has also bloomed with countless ways to help us improve productivity, from productivity apps on your phone to productivity hacks that are said to rewire your brain.
In the last few weeks, this trend exploded again when AI-powered solutions, from seemingly all-knowing chatbots to seemingly all-capable creators of art, music, and content. As a combined mix of solutions, “Generative AI” can reportedly dial your productivity up to eleven. All you need to do is write a prompt and click a button for each task that you’d otherwise typically have to spend hours doing.
Now, with a productivity-hacked mind, a productivity-optimized process, and a productivity-accelerated toolbox, you are ready to conquer the world. Or, can you? Is the magic real? Or is this just an elaborate hoax? Let’s think about it by asking ourselves these simple questions:
Is it about the hacks or the principles?
Productivity hacks vary in form. They can be tactics to choose what to eat, how to sleep, when to take a break, and who to speak to to get more done, among others. The problem with them is, ironically, precisely why they are popular: While they have tactical use, they offer no strategic value.
When you’re distracted at work and choose to browse social network feeds all day long, would your diet and break-time tactics help you get more done? Similarly, when you decide to perform low-value, nice-to-have tasks rather than those that actually move the business forward, would it matter who you speak to, manipulate, convince or negotiate with to get them done?
No. You’d just end up doing more of what won’t matter. That’s not very productive.
Instead, follow the essential principles of productivity, such as:
- Be focused and stay focused
- Develop a personality that rejects distractions
- Prioritize goals and tasks based on their impact
- Think about what you should be productive for first, and do it productively later
- Do the actual work and finish it
These are not rocket science. It’s common sense. Remember: We have robots for productivity, our job is to be the mind, so be mindful.
Speaking of which…
Is it about the tools or the users?
More often than not, the world tends to prematurely worship technological breakthroughs like a new deity. When the iPhone first came out, everyone was crazy about it and decided they must have one, no matter the price or purpose. When the metaverse was first introduced, they switched to worshipping avatars, NFTs, and the kind of real estate that’s measured in bytes instead of hectares. Now, with the rise of AI, the worship seems to shift again, to the new kind of gods that can transcend us into ultra-productive, multitasking organisms.
What we tend to forget is: Bad workmen blame their tools, regardless of how advanced the tools are. An incompetent person will turn chat GPT, Dall-E, Midjourney, Synthesia, Copy AI and any other tool into a toy — pointless, meant to kill time, and not very productive. After all, humans are the masters, and here’s why:
- Copywriting can be done by AI? Fine, but it can’t tell an emotional, original, heart-warming and soul-touching human story.
- Art can be generated by AI? Fine, but it can’t redefine, reshape and make us rethink the meaning of beauty based on the changing meaning of human life, which we need in order to evolve.
- Programming can be completed by AI? Fine, but it can’t program the kind of solutions that resolve our deepest struggles or fulfill our deepest desires, which are too often irrational and, well, human.
- Designs can be created by AI? Fine, but it can’t make the designs intuitive enough to adapt to the whole spectrum of human emotions, behaviors and cultures.
These are just a few examples, but you know what they mean: The tools are the servants, we are the masters, and if we can’t fulfill our missions as competent masters, what’s the point of optimizing our productivity with advanced tools?
Speaking of optimizing…
Is it about the optimization or the direction?
Productivity improvement is often associated with optimizing processes to minimize the input and maximize the output. “Do the most with the least”, that the endgame. But is it wise?
What do killing all lives with one bullet, making all cars, planes, trains and motorbikes with one factory, and wiping out animals across the face of the Earth to make the most human food with one company have in common? They are all at optimal productivity. But do you want any of them? I know I don’t.
Instead, think about the direction you’re going in. If you aren’t headed in the right direction, going at max speed would simply guarantee you’d be in for a disaster. Consider:
- The right goals you want to achieve
- The right team you want to achieve them with
- The right customers who rightly benefit from them
- The right solutions you are offering to the customers, which won’t contain hidden costs like pollution
Between a compass and a vehicle, always choose the compass first to make sure you’ll get where you want to be, and take the vehicle later just to get there sooner.
All in all, while new methods, processes and technologies, including AI, can be powerful tools to enhance productivity, it’s important to remember that they are only effective when used with meaningful principles, in justified directions, and by competent users. Otherwise, we’d just productively sabotage ourselves and each other.
