The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey

I believe that having a clear understanding of your purpose - what matters to you in each area of your life - is the only way to really prioritise what you spend your time on. We can only make choices about what we use our time for and how much time we allocate to different tasks. We cannot manage time, it ticks on steadily no matter what we do. So what do I think are the most useful tips in the book, from my personal perspective? Skip to my list at the end if you want, or read through to discover some background to what makes it to the list. It’s ok to switch gears from time to time. However, I’ve also learned to ENJOY being unproductive, rather than feeling guilty about it.

One of the things I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I can be incredibly productive when I really want to be, but can also run out of effort and be very unproductive. The most productive people manage how they use their time, energy and attention to enable them to work deliberately and with intention towards meaningful goals.īeing productive in this way takes effort. He then goes on to explain his own concept of productivity (with a focus on what we accomplish, not just what we “get done”) and to talk us through the key elements that impact our productivity. It starts with the obvious (but perhaps not particularly helpful?!) statement that we all get the same 24 hours per day “to live our lives in a meaningful way”. It chronicles the author’s project to spend a year discovering all he could about productivity - through reading, interviewing experts and trying out lots of different approaches himself.

This is a very easy book to read, and each chapter has an estimated reading time at the start, plus a key “takeaway” point. As part of this, I was looking at my own approach to productivity and also how my own team and I could set a good example of productive working. I was exploring how to enhance productivity within the business I worked for. I first read The Productivity Project, by Chris Bailey, a few years ago. Being productivity focused is perhaps a more positive way of putting it, if it’s done deliberately and not just as a headless chicken running around mindlessly. I often find myself thinking “there’s got to be a better way of doing this” and frequently believe I have time to squeeze in just this one extra thing. So, I dislike inefficiency and wasted time. I’m generally ambitious about what can be achieved and want things done both well AND quickly. I’ve completed quite a few psychological profiles over the years and almost all point towards an impatient perfectionist who always needs to find the solution somehow.

The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey