Productivity Kills Execution

Trying to be productive stopped me in my tracks

In the past few years, I've attempted to start this newsletter a dozen times. What took me so long to finally post? I was trying to be productive, and it stopped me in my tracks.

Productivity? Or Analysis Paralysis

I've spent countless hours and days pouring over different productivity methods to increase my productivity. I would set up Kanban boards, post-it walls, task hierarchies, to-do lists, habit journals, and reinforcement mechanisms, and that's before I start comparing specific apps to enable these methods. I think "If I know the best way to get things done, imagine how many more things I could do!"

It's effortless to fall into this rabbit hole because of the social and ecosystem reinforcement you're exposed to in research. If you search on Youtube, you'll find the vibrant community of productivity hackers and creators who create a self-sustaining cycle of creating content on being productive by setting up ways to be more productive to create content. After following this group for years, I noticed that while the top influencers, apps, and ideas change over time, the core concept stays the same: "learn how to be productive by setting up systems to automate the hard stuff." Like anyone selling you an online course, they sell you on the idea that anyone can learn a simple method to do incredible things fast. But they never tell you that a productivity system is one of the least important aspects of getting things done.

"With this simple method, I improved my efficiency and revenue by 300%. Watch this 4-minute video to learn how".

I fell into this tempting trap of learning to be productive before starting to produce, and it ruined me. I kept analyzing and experimenting with different workflows, systems, and structures to get things done, but I felt more gains and improvements were always needed. Soon my objective was always centered around improving the system instead of executing the goal. The result? I had a sub-optimal productivity system that saw little real-world testing and a to-do list that grew by the hour with no hope of shrinking.

It took me years to escape this analysis paralysis, and it took a simple fix: executing at all costs.

Just get it done.

Productivity is never the goal; the goal is always execution. If you sit and think to ponder the 'best' solution, you've lost the point of the entire enterprise. Creating something out of nothing - i.e., going from 0 to 1 - is what requires intense focus and energy to become real. Then keeping that something alive then becomes the most important thing, and that is when considering productivity can add value, but not when done at the expense of execution.

"Execution is the key."

In the past two years, I've adjusted my execution threshold to create a bias towards action. The most significant shift came when I decided to look at things as discrete challenges I needed to solve as opposed to fundamental problems that required a comprehensive solution. Here's the latest example:

Use Case: Buying a water bottle

I know this isn't how everyone who focuses on 'productivity' thinks, but this is how a determination to be 'productive' comingled with my anxiety to stop me in my tracks instead of executing. Now, I focus on action unless and until the method becomes a repeated barrier to the quality or quantity.

Tradeoffs? Yup. Worth it? Absolutely.

By biasing action, I've had to cut out excessive tools, steps, and reviews in my workflow, which may have slightly reduced quality, but created a far higher net output.

So what do I give up? Potentially mild quality improvement from more review cycles and input. But not only can these lead to more delays, but they risk a loss of momentum and focus for creative endeavors, like a newsletter.

So what do I gain? More net output. By creating more content and publishing it faster, I benefit from more cycles of a complete workflow, iterative improvements, and genuine feedback.

This impact is real. I used a layered system and hierarchy of tools, apps, and notes to 'improve my workflow,' leading to this efficiency paralysis. As far as possible, I've distilled it all into three simple steps, almost all of which I achieve within Notion:

Sav's Universal Workflow

So for these reasons, I'm happy to publish this first post of a new newsletter, which has only gone through minor reviews by myself and Grammarly.

Expect more posts about technology and the human experience, colored by my personal experiences and thoughts.

Let's get it done.