The Pursuit of Being Productive: Be Better, Not Perfect
Tags: Personal Development, Productivity, Basketball, Personal Growth

Basketball season is back, so if today’s blog is a bit all over the place blame it on Kyrie and KD. They (the Brooklyn Nets) are currently crushing the Klay Thompson-less Warriors, and I’m excited to see if Kyrie, KD, and their new coach, Steve Nash, can lead a talented Brooklyn team to win the East and further — and whether Steph Curry and can lead what looks to be a Division III practice squad to better than last place (where they were last year).

As I’m watching the game and trying to figure out what to write about, I’m thinking that I’ve been a bit undisciplined in my blog-writing, and really my schedule in general, over the past several days so it’s time that I get it together!

I want to explore how I approach being productive, especially in a very unstructured time.

At work I tend to structure my days in time blocks. I learned this a while back — that most people’s most creative time is in the morning. So I thought about that and realized that I was creative in the morning — especially after coffee. For the first several hours of the day I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to get ‘er done! So I blocked that time for things like:

Planning my week

Analyzing data or research

Creating or building a spreadsheet, form, or dashboard

Writing a report or recommendation

I realize not everyone can get to work super early, but if you have the ability to get in before others I highly recommend it. Having those minutes or maybe even a full hour before everyone else gets there is really conducive to getting things done. Even if you just drink a cup of coffee and stare out the window thinking for a bit — it is a great way to have some time to yourself where you’re thinking about work strategy, to-do’s, or your plan for the day.

If you stick to a more “normal” 9–5 or even an irregular schedule, you should still find a time for yourself to be introspective — late at night, during a kid’s practice — no phone scrolling or checking emails. Think about the big picture or put some words on paper or the screen — hell, take an hour to write a blog post!

I was never a fan of Kobe, mainly because I hated the Lakers, but one thing I respect about him is that he would get in before everyone else. I think he understood that he could use that time to practice his craft and do the things he wanted to do during that time. I use it to think about the big picture, think about what I needed to plan for, and make sure I was prepared.

Obviously, during these times there aren’t many who are battling traffic to get in early but it is still important to maintain your structure. So set that coffee machine for 6am so that it turns off and gets cold at 8am! Everyone knows you can’t microwave cold coffee — it’s just not the same. If you don’t drink coffee, keep your blinds open or consider an alarm that gradually gets brighter — it will help force you to wake up.

After a creative and productive morning I, along with 75% of the American workforce, tend to fall victim to the afternoon doldrums. So I structure my day to either hold meetings or do easy work in the early afternoon. Using allows me to make myself available for meetings only for a certain time period and I block the time for those or work such as:

These are repetitive tasks that aren’t much fun and don’t take too much brain power, so it is easy to put on some loud music and power through them.

If you’re working from home use the “doldrums” to do the tasks that take the least effort.

The end of my workdays tend to fluctuate. Events needing to be prepped, deadlines looming, or late meetings because we couldn’t fit it in earlier. Other times I would head to ref a basketball game or just prepare to battle DC traffic. A cup of espresso (or tea) would get the engine running and kickstart a 2nd wind that would allow me to bring my full self to whatever needed to be done.

The afternoons during COVID times have been difficult because it’s really easy to get distracted or start signing off early. So adding an end of day meeting is a great way to hold yourself accountable. A check-in with a colleague, coffee meetup, or full-fledged staff meeting is a great way to give yourself something that has to be done in order to work up til your deadline, whenever that might be.

I fully believe that if you try to get all of the hard work done early and leave the easy stuff for late in the day it’s a mistake. You’ll find yourself putting the easy things off because “I can do that first thing tomorrow.”

Put something hard at the end of the day because you’ll do the easy stuff beforehand and then end up feeling really good about what you accomplished.

Two weeks ago I hopped onto my personal Google Calendar and planned out my days. I set blocks for creating proposals and writing letters in the morning, for organizing in the early afternoon, and then for writing my blog in the late afternoon once I’d had some time to plan and think about what I’d write about.

I have failed on several occasions.

But I’ll be back on track tomorrow.

The one thing to keep in mind as we are all struggling to be productive is that there is no science to it. There’s no written formula for productivity, rather, the pursuit of it. It is very easy to get distracted, and every day brings a new challenge.

Today, for example, I was out of tofu for my ramen so I had to run to Trader Joe’s. I went there just to get tofu but I remembered we’re almost out of Everything-But-The-Bagel seasoning and then I saw the Pfeffernusse cookie mix. So then I had to make them of course! As if I needed more sugar after a recent cookie exchange with our neighbors.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to get up early, take some time to plan out the next week and the first week of the New Year, respond to a few postings, and get my blog done before 4pm so I can have a delicious holiday cocktail!

As I reach the end of this post, the Nets have extended their lead to 33 points in the third quarter. Maybe the Warriors need to start practice earlier.