Ananya | Sep 23, 2009

What is the purpose of life? As Albert Camus said, “We humans are creatures who spend our lives trying to convince ourselves that our existence is not absurd.” If we are to believe in what Mr. Camus observed, we’ll also have to admit that the extent to which humans go to achieve this assurance is great. I’d say that the most common approach is the determined effort to lead ‘a productive life.’

Productivity is required at all levels and times. I have a few questions, though. Does everybody know what ‘productivity’ means? Does everybody know that the process of maximizing effort in minimum time is called productivity? Do you have to be a management pro, expert in the technical jargon to be productive? I have no clue what ‘chores automation’ means, or what ‘overcoming procrastination’ might possibly refer to (hats off to the ones who do know, though).

To be truthful, nothing struck a chord in my mind when I read about the productivity theme. Does that mean that I don’t know much about productivity? Quite obviously. But does that mean that I am not productive? I don’t think so. Anybody who knows how to maximize time use is productive. But a few tips by the great management gurus are always appreciated.

Time management comes first and foremost. The question is…. can we really manage time? No, we cannot. We can only tune ourselves according to the day (and night). No one can manage time — we only get twenty four hours in a day — not a second more, not a second less. ‘Time management’ does sound impressive and makes us feel important, as if we are managing nature when actually we are making the adjustments to nature.

About email management, I suggest directly delete spam without attempting to fish for some accidentally-sent-to-spam-folder-useful-mail. Trust me, there’s no such thing. Other than that, it’s work-related mail and personal messages, in order of priority, depending on time available (forwards and advertisements ignored). Killing off email is not feasible but on busy days it would be nice to send it on vacation.

With respect to ‘chores automation’, how far can we take it? Program Power Point so that feeding in topics is all you have to do to prepare slides, and maybe even have a voice over program for presenting them? If so, I think Microsoft and the World Wide Web would be entitled to salary checks for every project we complete. Nah, automating chores is to aid and facilitate work; the brain behind the work will always be, well, a brain — a real live human one right there on the spot.

Goal management is another important factor — the most important one, next to time management perhaps. Clearly defined goals that are realistic and broken down into smaller steps are instrumental in achieving high productivity. Compiling a “To Do” list comes in useful here as we all have lapses in memory. Along with productivity tools, they bring a lot of clarity and simplicity. Just spend a few minutes make a “To Do” list, and it helps you to focus throughout the day.

Getting rid of distractions is one thing I find to be most challenging. However, I do believe that to minimize distractions the first step is to identify them. There is a fine line between distraction and recreation and you must identify it. Dear old Facebook for example, is a recreation that can become a distraction if I am not careful.

Overcoming procrastination is another difficult task, be it official work like finishing assignments before the deadline or something as basic as waking up in time for an early lecture. Perspective helps a lot, though. Delaying a job results in a pile up of work (as if you didn’t know that), so merely thinking about the prospective stack or panic as the deadline approaches helps to overcome lethargy and laziness.

Cutting down on sweet sleep is perhaps the hardest of all and totally unnecessary. Cutting down on oversleeping certainly is what is really important. Everyone needs a healthy dose of sleep synchronized with a sensible work rhythm (I think working at night is the best!). You wouldn’t want to work for twenty two hours one day, then feel sleepy and strained for twenty hours the next day, and end up sleeping for forty eight hours straight, would you?

The level of productivity on a collective level also has a psychological aspect. Work morale, work environment, encouragement and incentives are factors which make people want to work. So along with the methods and numerous suggestions here, my conclusion comes down to this: Productivity cannot just be achieved by a list of tips to be followed; it has to come from self-motivation or personal willingness!