This is really resonating with me. I tried to read David Allen’s GTD and I simply never could get myself past the first chapter. I am sure there are plenty of valuable tips in that, but I think we’ve made the quest for productivity way too complicated.

First, we’ve confused the ever expanding tools and gadgets with the inherent self-focus and self-discipline that is needed to stay on track with whatever we are doing.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, a individuals we are falling into the trap of commoditizing ourselves. We are human beings first, not human “doings” The productivity craze seems bent on making us all super-efficient human doing machines, measuring our worth in the sum of our output. Like there is something wrong with us if we aren’t executing multiple work projects as well as our personal life projects with scripted efficiency.

No. Totally misses the point.

I am not saying we shouldn’t strive to have good systems in place to handle the tasks we need. I just don’t think we need elaborate trademarked systems by a guru to be well-organized.

I can’t begin to wrap my head around GTD (and I don’t mean this to be an anti-David Allen rant). However, I’ve always known that the best way for me to accomplish things is to write done my list of goals and keep a daily “to do” list. I don’t need to make a big deal out of it. I just need to do it.

And I need to not overcommit and leave plenty of time to just be a human being. I am not the sum of all my doings.

Look forward to more of this great blog!

I think perhaps you are missing the point a little — there is nothing inherently wrong with companies wishing their employees to be more productive (although, I might add that companies all too often confusing “being productive” with “working longer hours”. Comapnies tend to emphasize quantity over quality. The inherent falseness of that, IMHO is the point of what Tim Ferriss is saying in “4 Hour Workweek” and part of what Clay is addressing here.

For example, at my company you are presumed to only be truly productive if you put in ~50 hours of billable work a week. You are paid for 40, you are frowned on if you don’t exceed that. Never mind if you don’t actually have 40 hours of work, which sometimes happens. What usually happens, however, is that in the frenzy to get ever more work done, we throw more people at it rather than SLOW DOWN AT THE RIGHT TIME to PLAN A WISE APPROACH. So the 50 hours ends up being needed, but a lot of it is really unproductive, because we are just spinning and correcting the mistakes or undesired effects of poor planning.

And that verifies what you are saying about companies need good business processes. We don’t have it. All the productivity hacks in the world aren’t going to fix that. And — it got worse after they brought in the big guns from IBM to fix our processes. ‘NUFF SAID.

BUT — I don’t think Clay is talking about corporate productivity. I think he’s talking about “corporate-independent” (aka personal) productivity — productivity that you’d practice regardless of where you work. And I think he’s on to something. I’ll say whu in a different post since this has gotten way too long.

I passed on your thoughts on productivity as I heard them in the podcast this week. Creating your own definition of productivity!

What is wrong with a company wanting their employees to be more productive? If I had a company I would want that too. In my working life I always wish my coworkers to be more productive too. Is there something ethically wrong in that? I am not talking about the type of temporary productivity bursts by making people simply work more. That eventually causes burnout in people and causes them to be unproductive ultimately. But in my experience usually unproductivity in companies come from problems in processes and trying to make processes (for individuals and groups) more productive is something I do not see an ethical problem with. Am I missing your point?

Regards
Bilgem

GTD has a few “principles” that are helpful, but the overall system? Forget it. No creative person I know uses it, including me. I really don’t get why on earth there are so many blogs and websites out there devoted to trying to make it work. If it’s that hard. DROP it. Why invest so much time and energy into it? My rule of thumb is that if I have to struggle that much to make an organizing system work – it’s automatically a waste of time. : )

Thanks for speaking up! I can’t wait to read more… : )

I’m really glad that you found this article helpful.

I like your thinking! I’ll use some of this at work to broaden some minds!!!

For me the best system is the HipsterPDA, a stack of index cards plus a mini-binder clip and a good pen. I write things down as I need them, and whenever I am sitting to work I keep it out to remind me. As things get done I cross them off, and replace pages every once in a while. It never crashes, I never have to upgrade, no need to plug in, and I am always equipped with scrap paper for “capturing” the occasional phone number. Woot! This is the second comment I have made today that mentioned my trusty HPDA. (Interesting note – I have noticed a rise in the number of phone number instances in direct correlation to my simplifying my system. FYI)