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Productivity Is Dead. Long Live Getting Stuff Done.
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Right, let's cut through the productivity porn epidemic that's infected every LinkedIn feed from Surry Hills to South Yarra. I've spent the better part of seventeen years watching businesses chase productivity metrics like they're hunting unicorns, and frankly, most of it's complete bollocks.
Here's what nobody wants to admit: productivity isn't about cramming more tasks into your day like you're playing Tetris with your calendar. It's about doing fewer things, but doing them properly. Revolutionary concept, I know.
Back in 2019, I was consulting for a tech startup in Melbourne – won't name names, but let's just say they had more standing desks than profitable quarters. Their CEO was obsessed with this productivity app that tracked everything from bathroom breaks to coffee consumption. Seriously. The poor bastards were spending more time logging their activities than actually working. Classic case of measuring the wrong bloody thing.
The Myth of Multitasking (And Why Your Brain Hates It)
Multitasking is the business equivalent of wearing Crocs to a black-tie event – technically possible, but you'll look like an idiot and everyone will judge you. Your brain simply wasn't designed to juggle seventeen different tasks while simultaneously checking Slack, answering emails, and pretending to listen to that marathon Teams meeting about quarterly projections.
Some research from Stanford (and before you ask, yes, I know it's American research, but even a broken clock is right twice a day) shows that people who think they're good at multitasking are actually the worst at it. The irony is delicious.
I learned this the hard way during my early consulting days when I thought I could run three client workshops simultaneously while designing a training programme and responding to urgent emails. Spoiler alert: everything turned to shit. The workshops were mediocre, the programme was half-baked, and I ended up sending the wrong presentation to the wrong client. Nothing says "professional competence" like accidentally sending Woolworths' team-building slides to Commonwealth Bank's leadership team.
Time Management Tools: The Good, the Bad, and the Ridiculously Overengineered
Let's talk tools. Not the fancy Swiss Army knife approach where you need seventeen different apps to manage your to-do list, but actual useful stuff that doesn't require a Computer Science degree to operate.
The Old School Approach That Actually Works:
Paper notebooks. Yes, I said it. Fight me. There's something beautifully primitive about physically writing things down that makes your brain pay attention. Plus, you can't get distracted by notifications when you're using a pen. Well, unless your pen starts beeping, in which case you've got bigger problems.
Digital Tools for the Twenty-First Century Human:
If you must go digital (and let's face it, sometimes you must), keep it simple. One calendar, one task manager, one note-taking app. The moment you need a workflow diagram to manage your productivity system, you've lost the plot entirely.
I've seen executives in Sydney spend more time organizing their task management system than actually completing tasks. It's like alphabetizing your spice rack while your kitchen is on fire.
The Australian Way: Practical Productivity
Here's where I get controversial: the best productivity advice comes from understanding that not everything is urgent, despite what your colleagues might think when they send emails marked "URGENT: Please review when you have a moment." Pick one. It's either urgent, or it's when-you-have-a-moment. It can't be both, Karen.
The 80/20 rule isn't just business school theory – it's survival strategy. Roughly 82% of your results come from about 18% of your efforts. (Yes, I know those numbers don't add up to 100%. Life's messy like that.) Focus on identifying that crucial 18% and stop fannying about with the rest.
What This Looks Like in Practice:
Morning priorities matter more than afternoon busy work. Your brain is sharpest in the first few hours after caffeine hits your system, so don't waste it on email. Save the mindless administrative stuff for when you're running on fumes anyway.
Energy management beats time management every day of the week. You can't manufacture more time, but you can definitely manage your energy better. This means eating actual food instead of surviving on Tim Tams and flat whites, getting proper sleep instead of binge-watching Netflix until 2 AM, and taking breaks before you need them.
Some people disagree with this approach. They'll tell you that grinding through fatigue builds character. These people are usually middle managers who peaked in their MBA programme and think burnout is a badge of honour. Ignore them.
The Meetings Problem (Or: How We Learned to Stop Thinking and Love Pointless Discussions)
Here's my most unpopular opinion: 73% of meetings could be emails, and 64% of emails could be avoided entirely if people just made decisions and moved on. These statistics are completely made up, but they feel accurate, don't they?
The modern Australian workplace has developed this bizarre obsession with collaborative decision-making that involves eight people discussing whether the quarterly report should be blue or navy blue for forty-seven minutes. Meanwhile, actual work sits abandoned like a forgotten meat pie at the MCG.
Meeting Rules That Actually Work:
No agenda, no meeting. It's not rocket science. If you can't articulate why you need to gather six people in a room (or Zoom box), you probably don't need to gather six people in a room.
Standing meetings should require standing. Literally. Watch how quickly people become concise when their feet start hurting.
Technology: Friend, Foe, or Expensive Distraction?
The tech industry wants you to believe there's an app for everything, including an app to manage your other apps. This is like having a personal assistant whose only job is to manage your other personal assistants. It's assistants all the way down.
Don't get me wrong – technology can be brilliant when used properly. Project management tools like Asana or Trello can transform chaotic workflows into something resembling organised thinking. But the moment you need three different apps to track your progress on learning how to use your productivity app, you've entered some sort of digital ouroboros.
I worked with a Brisbane firm last year that had implemented seven different productivity platforms simultaneously. Seven! Their staff spent the first hour of each day just syncing information between systems. By the time they actually started working, half the day was gone and their motivation had left for a long lunch.
The Burnout Trap (And Why Productivity Obsession Makes It Worse)
Here's where the productivity movement goes completely off the rails: the assumption that optimising every minute somehow leads to happiness. This is like assuming that perfectly organised sock drawer will fix your relationship problems. Related, but not causally connected.
Real productivity isn't about squeezing every drop of efficiency from your waking hours. It's about being intentional with your time and energy so you can actually enjoy life instead of just surviving it.
The most productive people I know – genuinely productive, not just busy – have one thing in common: they're ruthlessly selective about what deserves their attention. They say no to good opportunities so they can say yes to great ones. They understand that being busy isn't the same as being useful.
This selective approach drives some people absolutely mental, particularly those who've confused activity with achievement. These are the same people who CC half the company on emails about lunch arrangements and wonder why nobody takes them seriously.
Getting Started: The Minimum Viable Productivity System
Forget everything you've read about productivity hacking and morning routines that require waking up at 4:30 AM to meditate with your houseplants. Start simple:
Week One: Write down three things you want to accomplish each day. Not seventeen. Three. If you complete them, brilliant. If you don't, figure out why and adjust accordingly.
Week Two: Add time blocking to your calendar. Treat focused work time like you would treat a client meeting – sacred and non-negotiable.
Week Three: Audit your commitments. Everything you're currently doing either deserves your attention or it doesn't. Stop attending meetings where you contribute nothing and learn nothing. Life's too short for performative presence.
The goal isn't to become some sort of productivity robot who optimises their breakfast routine for maximum nutritional efficiency per minute consumed. The goal is to create enough space in your life for things that actually matter, whether that's meaningful work, quality time with people you care about, or just having the mental bandwidth to appreciate a decent coffee without checking your phone.
Look, productivity isn't about perfection. It's about progress. And sometimes progress looks like admitting that you've been doing things the hard way because everyone else was doing them the hard way too.
Start there. Everything else is just details.
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