Final Day of our Top Tips For Productivity by Chris Bailey, Author of A Life Of Productivity.

No. 1.

Productivity isn’t about how much you produce, it’s about how much you accomplish

When I first started my year of productivity, I created a Stats page so I could share exactly how productive I was every day. Every day I posted the number of words I wrote, pages I read, and hours I worked, because I considered these to be pretty good measurements of how productive I was.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Unless you run a factory, measuring your productivity based only on how much you produce gives you only a shallow, limited picture of how productive you are. In fact, if you come up with an intelligent and creative approach to a problem—let’s say that you find a way to write 500 words in 100—when you measure your productivity simply by how much you produce, you’re much less productive!

It’s easy to get caught up on measurements and statistics, but as far as personal productivity is concerned, statistics are secondary. Productivity isn’t about how much you produce, it’s about how much you accomplish.

It’s important to do tasks that are high leverage and meaningful, and it’s also important that you know how to manage your time, energy, and attention so you have the resources you need to get more done. But at the end of the day, when you have no more time, energy, or attention left, the only thing you’re left with is what you have accomplished, and the difference you have made in the world because you did something valuable with a day of your life.

At the office, Keep It Simple Websites team always focus on the accomplishments, not the remaining To Do List as this is always growing. Perhaps that’s why we have achieved a good work/life balance. I hope you have learnt something from Chris Bailey’s tips here on our blog.  We can all keep working for more hours or money, but if you don’t have your health or family what is the point!

That’s what productivity is all about.