More to Life than Efficiency
More to Life than Efficiency
What is holistic productivity and why should you care?
Welcome to All the Tasks Fit to Print, my weekly newsletter on all issues productivity-related for authors (and other solopreneurs)!
I keep getting weird looks when I talk to people about "holistic productivity", so I figured it's time for a manifesto! Who doesn't love a good manifesto???!?!?
Most traditional productivity advice is geared to making you a better worker. Whether you work for yourself as an entrepreneur or for someone else as an employee or as a student in school, the traditional productivity advice is about doing more, grinding harder, going farther. There is some lip service to things like family and wellness in classics like First Things First (Stephen Covey), but generally, productivity gurus are helping you get more done by being hyper efficient with your calendar, your to-do list, your goals. Even hobbies are approached with the mindset of "maximizing gain" or whatever.
Such an approach leaves out pretty much everything else in life.
After all, there is no point in being super efficient if you are hustling yourself to an early grave and failing to nurture the connections you have with friends and family.
Since I work mostly with women and people outside of the mainstream bubble of hustle culture, what I hear from my clients is less about finding hacks to shave 10 minutes off the time they spending reading email and more about finding the time, energy, and resources to be present in their life. They want to be successful entrepreneurs/employees/students, sure, but they also want to feel fulfilled with the time they spend pursuing their hobbies, and spending with their family, and whatever else they have committed to.
That's the key word: fulfilled.
It's easy to do a lot of things, honestly. I can go over your to-do list and find ways to shave off "wasted" time and reshuffle tasks in order to maximize efficiency so that you can increase your deliverables. Isn't that what success is all about? (Or is success all about the jargon?????)
Here is my question to you: what is the point of being objectively successful if you subjectively feel exhausted, stretched too thin, and stressed out?
What a lot of productivity gurus leave out of their spiels is that the secret to feeling successful is to discover emotional and psychological fulfillment in the doing of the things you need to do.
Which is where holistic productivity comes in.
Practicing holistic productivity principles, you'll be able to achieve a healthy balance between all of your commitments, reduce stress and enhance your overall well-being, and increase your focus and effectiveness in both your personal and professional pursuits.
By cultivating healthier habits and routines that support your long-term success and happiness, you will naturally, easily develop a more fulfilling and purpose-driven life, where your work and personal life complement and enrich each other.
Holistic productivity is about more than just getting things done – it's about creating a lifestyle that supports your overall happiness, health, and success.
Easy for me to say, right? Well, no. In fact, I've fumbled for a while to explain what holistic productivity is and what it looks like.
But, I've been working on how to quantify this for a long time, and I think I've finally hit upon the five aspects that you need to engage in to create holistic productivity in your life. They are not meant to be "perfected" or "accomplished," though. They are not tasks to check off a list! They are meant to be practiced and fine-tuned and adjusted as we go along. I'm not going to claim I've reached the nirvana of holistic productivity, but I have a better life for trying, and I believe that you can too.
Ready for the manifesto?
Here are the five basic principles to leading a holistically productive life:
Prioritization: Recognizing what truly matters to you, both personally and professionally, so you can allocate your time and energy accordingly. This includes setting clear personal boundaries and ensuring that you have time to dedicate to your priorities, whatever they are.
Mindfulness: Developing a greater awareness of how you spend your time and energy, helping you make more conscious choices that align with your values and priorities. Recognizing your capacity in all areas of your life and respecting your limitations as much as you respect your goals.
Flexibility: Embracing a dynamic approach to planning and task management, allowing you to adapt to changes and unexpected events while maintaining a sense of balance and control. This includes being open to adjusting your goals and strategies as needed, based on your personal circumstances and well-being.
Sustainability: Ensuring that your habits are sustainable over the long term, preventing burnout and promoting overall well-being. This involves prioritizing self-care, relaxation, and rejuvenation, as well as setting realistic expectations for your workload and performance.
Integration: Finding ways to integrate the different roles you have in life so they complement and support each other rather than compete for your time and energy. This can include exploring creative ways to combine your passions, skills, and interests or seeking opportunities for personal growth and development.
Sadly, there are not enough vowels in there to make a pithy achronym ("SPIFM"? "PFISM"? What are words!) but I'll figure something out. Eventually. ("MIFSP"?)
Yes, you can definitely practice holistic productivity with your favorite paper planner or project management app. Like everything I do, the concept of holistic productivity is meant to be flexible across all productivity tools. My goal is to open the door of the discussion around productivity to factors other than "efficiency" and "task accomplishment" such as personal fulfillment, happiness, and self actualization.