Productivity is not about doing more!
Over the years I've considered productivity to be the pursuit of doing as much as possible, in the most efficient manner. People adopting productivity measures are looking to make time for other activities, accelerate the growth of their company or to simply catch up where they have fallen behind.
My relationship with productivity
For years, I have chased company growth and numbers whilst placing productivity on a pedestal, preaching it to my team, and trying to model the latest techniques. This has lead to varying degrees of success in many areas of my life apart from one. Home.
Whilst I chase efficiencies in the workplace, I've so often lost sight of those that are most important to me. Despite achieving so much I was still finishing late, still feeling anxious and stressed whilst at home and still struggling to be present in important family moments.
Productivity had become an addiction, one where I have to continue to achieve more in order to feel productive. Whilst I spent time with family, I still always felt that I could have been doing more. Anxieties would rise over the business and new ideas would form whilst I tried to enjoy time with loved ones.
How silence changed everything
For many, including myself, lockdown and global pandemics worsened my mental state. Eventually my business partner shared with me a video from Richard Rohr about contemplation and meditation.
I was challenged by his idea of the false self and recognised that my own ego had been driving much of what I do. My reasons for productivity whilst had some root in wanting a better family life, also had deep roots in my own desire to be seen as successful and hard-working.
Following this video I decided to make time for contemplation. Instead of charging around doing things, I'd instead sit in silence. I'd focus on relaxation, on the contemplative process. Initially my only reason was to help improve my mental health through ensuring I took rest. I wasn't aware of where it was eventually going to take me.
The first few days of silence were of course relaxing and positive, and I enjoyed the process but over time something began to change in me. My focus turned to simple things, and I began to experience awe. Awe at the structure of a leaf or gratefulness for the warmth of my home.
This process continued and birthed thankfulness and appreciation for what was around me and all that I had. Silence had allowed me to stop and see that in an amongst all the productivity I was missing the point. I wasn't enjoying the wonderful things around me I was already blessed with.
Thankfulness
Over the next few months I found myself becoming happier and happier. I began to feel content in the life I'd been blessed with. We had what we needed and the time and space to create a wonderful home with lasting memories.
The relationship with my wife and three children improved as I began to value them more that I had ever before. I began engaging in better conversations with my daughters and when my son was born all thoughts of “training” my child slipped away. As you'll read here, our parenting style has changed forever.
Recognising how truly blessed I already was helped me look at the work I was doing with a new perspective. I was engaging in hours tasks, content creation, social media, research, project management and more. I ran several brands and was also working on a personal brand for myself.
My thoughts initially were to spread out the workload and get others involved in helping me, but then it struck me. Why?
Why when I already have so much do I need to work so hard? Why do I need to build a personal brand that allows me to be seen and respected by others. Why do I need to run so many brands and businesses? Why do I need to continue to engage in social media in such a time-consuming and draining manner?
Of course, I still have ambition and I do want to change the world, I believe we are all born with that seed. Yet my motivations, my ego and pride had all been challenged over several months of contemplation. As the luckiest man on the planet, I had a duty to care for what I already had and methodically and carefully build a bright future.
My view of productivity had been changed forever. Productivity wasn't about doing more and growing quickly. Productivity is about doing the right things, for the right reasons for results I believe in.
Productivity is about doing the right things, for the right reasons for results I believe in. Lee Matthew Jackson
How productivity looks for me now
Now, as I engage with this new world view I am learning how to be productive. This has lead to significant changes in how we parent, how we live, what we spend our time doing, what we spend money on and how we work.
I've since closed several brands I was working on, I've reduced clients in one of my businesses to just a handful and I've transferred most of my team to the core business with my business partner.
With significantly less distracting me each day I am able to focus and take my time methodically building our businesses. A great example is a new product we are designing. Our normal path would be to find the quickest route to market utilising any third party tools we could to get it out there fast.
Instead, we've decided to start from the ground up, designing it in purposeful stages over a period of several months. We are taking time to consider the bigger picture, where we want the product to be, how we want it to be used and how we will both support and scale it.
We are still ambitious but with a thankfulness for where we are and a new sense of confidence and purposefulness for where we are headed.
Silence
Productivity for me really began with silence.