A reader recently shared a segment from Chris Williamson’s podcast where he talks about his changing views on productivity:
“Look, I have a background in productivity. When I initially launched this show, I was discussing things like Pomodoro timers, Notion external brains, and Ebbinghaus forgetting curves, and so on. Right? Having gone through the process, I can say that after some time, you come to realize it becomes this peculiar superstitious rain dance you perform, this unusual type of productivity rain dance, in the hope that you’ll manage to accomplish something later that day.”
I found the phrase “productivity rain dance” quite interesting. Further research showed that Williamson had mentioned the idea before. In a post from last summer, he provided several examples of rain dance activities:
“Sitting at my desk without working”
“Participating in calls without any real objectives”
“Maintaining zero notifications on Slack, trying to reduce unread emails”
“Agreeing to an arbitrary dinner when someone is visiting”
What connects these diverse examples, from fixating on Ebbinghaus forgetting curves to battling your email inbox? They emphasize immediate activity rather than results over time. “The issue is that no one’s productivity goal is to maximize inputs,” Williamson clarifies. “It’s about maximizing outputs.”
In the current office landscape, when you observe everyone hurriedly responding to emails while toggling between Zoom meetings, or see a solo entrepreneur losing a morning to fine-tuning their ChatGPT-powered personalized assistant, you are witnessing rain dances. Everyone appears to be busy, but no one is questioning if these efforts are actually yielding results.
The answer to the rain dance issue is not to completely discard organizational systems or routines, nor is it simply to decide to work less. Rather, as Williamson points out, it’s crucial to shift your focus from inputs to outputs. Determine what is most valuable in your role, and figure out what genuinely enhances your ability to perform it better. This is where your attention should lie.
Finding the answers to these questions can be challenging. As I discuss in Slow Productivity, allocating more time for crucial tasks often requires first managing the less important activities that impede progress. It might necessitate adopting a formal workload management strategy to prevent overload, such as setting quotas or distinguishing between “active” tasks and “waiting” tasks. Improved collaboration processes that minimize distractions from constant messaging, like reserving regular office hours for complex discussions, and implementing time management strategies, such as time blocking, are also essential for maintaining control of your schedule.
What distinguishes these effective productivity efforts from mere productivity rain dances is that they are not symbolic, nor are they merely about staying busy for the sake of busyness (which I refer to as “pseudo-productivity” in my book). Their effectiveness is determined by the tangible outcomes they generate. Consequently, they are not flashy, high-tech, or even particularly thrilling to implement, but they are effective.
Rain dances can be gratifying. They seem significant and engaging in the moment, providing numerous minor details to modify and perfect. However, if your objective is to achieve a fruitful outcome, there’s no escaping the need to immerse yourself in the work, put in effort, and genuinely tend to the tasks at hand.
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In other news…
–> For a more in-depth discussion on productivity rain dances, listen to Episode #340 of my podcast.
–> If you're interested in watching me talk about productivity with Williamson, check out my appearance on his show from last spring.
–> At Growth Equation, Brad Stulberg recently penned an essay I found very insightful: “The Case for Mastery and Mattering in a Chaotic World” [ read | subscribe ]
–> You can find my latest book, Slow Productivity, on Amazon, now discounted to $18.00. If you’ve been considering checking it out, now is a great opportunity!
A reader recently shared a segment from Chris Williamson’s podcast with me. In this part, Williamson talks about how his views on productivity have changed over time: “Listen, I come from ...