Today, it feels harder than ever to actually get work done.
The constant barrage of pings, dings, emails, slacks, red dots, breaking news, retweets, and more enables the day to come and go. And if you’re anything like me, you’re left thinking, “What did I actually get done today?”
Many of the latest productivity apps, planners, tips and tricks, focus on helping you control your inputs.
An input is when someone else, something else pushes content / information to you. Ex: if I email you (this newsletter) it is an input to you.
These apps and productivity hacks help you go into do not disturb mode, tell you how to unsubscribe, mute, silence, and hibernate. But they don’t get at the root of the issue…
The rate of inputs, the pings and dings and notifications, don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Last I checked, I have more now than ever before.
But!
By learning to ignore inputs, giving up control, you actually free yourself up to focus more on your outputs.
An output is that big report, client deliverable, final project that you are creating. It is something you spend time making to put out into the world / deliver to someone. It is something of value.
It is human nature to focus on the path to least resistance, the items of least friction…
There is a reason we spend all of our time sending emails, responding to slack messages, and pinging one another constantly…. Spoiler alert: it’s not actually because it makes us more productive.
It’s because it’s easy.
And we gravitate towards “easy” work instead of “rewarding” work. (For those of you familiar with the eat-the-frog methodology of productivity, this is exactly at the root of that system - do the HARD thing first, when you have more energy).
Now, I’m not advocating ignoring that email from your boss or client (or maybe I am…), but by focusing less on reducing the noise and focusing more on carving out time to create, to build, to deliver on your outputs, you will feel more productive and more in control of your time.
Grateful to have you here.
Zach