While sipping my Sunday morning coffee, I came across the following article on the Wall Street Journal: How Productivity Apps Can Make Us Less Productive (And Less Happy). In brief, the article chronicles the life of a female corporate executive, codename Tessa, who uses every imaginable productivity app in her work and personal life, and yet remains as miserable and unfulfilled as ever.
I could relate to her story, and I bet you can too.
She preordered lunch, wore headphones at her desk, used task-tracking apps to streamline tasks, and avoided “useless” chitchat at the water cooler. In her personal life, she tracked calories, counted steps, and never diverged from her morning routine. She justified the actions as lining up with her value of “being results-oriented” and yet she was never satisfied with the results. In a word that can be so distracting, with so many things vying for our attention, it makes sense that we would try to tune out all distraction and tune into the very specific thing we are trying to accomplish.
Dr. Sarah Boardman, the author, goes on to describe Tessa’s condition as “goal-post-itis” – or the constant shifting of the goal further downfield – and the remedy as less focus, more downtime, and more social interaction.
The most important remedy the author suggested was a disentangling of Tessa’s identity from her to-do list!
Oh boy, can you relate?
At my worst periods in corporate America, I was like Tessa. Laser-focused, and constantly setting, achieving, and resetting goal after goal. I practically sprinted from elevator to desk in the morning. I gave quick smiles to my colleagues. I kept my headphones in and listened to a productivity podcast while grabbing pre-made lunch from Proper Foods at the base of the office building. I honestly can’t recall anything of impact that I accomplished from this state!
Less on Task, More on People
On the contrary, at my best in Corporate America, I was focused less on the task and more on the people and the process.
I recall the feeling of staying late to work on a major research study with my team in my early days at CEB (now Gartner). As the night waned on, I led the charge to order Chinese food and vividly recall me, my boss, and one other colleague laughing and then crying with noodles hanging from our mouths as we felt that hysteria of trying to create something impactful.
I remember bringing my early Snapdocs team together to work through Simon Sinek’s circles to move from What to How to Why. Although we felt so overwhelmed at the time, we felt super-motivated and inspired when each of us honed in on Why, exactly, it is we were doing what we were doing, which, at the time, was fulfilling requests for notaries to sign loan documents.
And I remember weaving in Game of Thrones references into a workshop on writing for the Corporate Communications team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in Richland, Washington. The night before while flying to the workshop, I had listened to a GOT podcast and suddenly saw a perfect parallel to what we would discuss in the morning. I couldn’t resist bringing levity and analogy to my audience.
When I was less focused on the task or result and more on the people and process, I can now look back and see that it was entirely about my sense of identity and self-worth, just like Tessa. She viewed herself as being results-oriented and identified with her ability to be productive above all else.
When I allowed myself to be vulnerable – to have courage – and to expose myself more of myself to those around me – tears at CEB, my why at Snapdocs, or just a funny story at PNNL – I shifted the energy in the room, I made a personal connection, and I achieved more than I had set out to accomplish.
My productivity was a shield. My vulnerability was an opening.
Can you relate?
How can you create more spontaneous interactions?
How can you turn useless chit chat into daily connection and rejuvenation?
How do you achieve your deepest desires?
Leave a comment and I’ll respond 😁.