On Productivity

In business, productivity is output relative to input. The more I do with what I have, the more productive I am. If Ajax Manufacturing used to make 50 widgets out of 50 thingies, and now they can make 60 widgets with those same 50 thingies, Ajax has become more productive.

You hear all the time about "personal productivity" - getting stuff done. You might have a daily To-Do list that you plow through. Possibly you are disciplined in your scheduling - a time for everything, and everything in its time. Perhaps you are great at prioritizing – making certain you complete the most important stuff first. Maybe you have read all the books, bought all the software and hit all the webinars in hopes of finding the secret elixir to personal productivity. However you measure your personal productivity, chances are you define it as getting stuff done.

To be sure, getting stuff done is important. I believe, though, that we have a tendency to overlook two important ingredients to having a productive day: Have I improved someone else today, and have I improved myself today.

It is important to have an “others” focus. We have family, colleagues, friends, and even total strangers whose lives intersect ours every day. What impact do we have on those around us? Are they better for having encountered us today? Sometimes there is direct interaction. Often, we influence others in a passive way – they observe what we do, how we act, or how we react. Are our passive influences in concert with how we would want to interact with others directly? Sometimes, the things I do or do not do - or say, or do not say - make things needlessly more difficult for someone else. That is counterproductive.

Those who know me well know that I love to learn. I want to improve myself in some way every single day. It may be professionally, in my personal relationships, spiritually or in terms of character, or making better health choices. Any day that I do not accomplish something positive in my own life has been counterproductive.

At the end of the day, I reflect. Have I made someone else's life better or brighter in some way today? Have I improved myself in some way today? If the answer to either of these questions is "no," regardless how much stuff got done, it was an unproductive day.