Books and podcast
For the past fifteen years, I have read and listened to just about everything related to productivity. I have made my obsession my profession. Reading books and listening to podcasts about productivity produces a dopamine hit in my brain. Just reading and listening to mirrors the image that new tips will make me even more productive. Actually, that never turns out to be the case. All the tips and tricks turn out to be trickier in practice than imagined.
Rigorous Self-Reflection
If there is one thing that does determine my productivity, it is my own idea of how productive I am. Rigorous self-reflection causes me to have a negative bias for my own performance. It’s never good enough. My to-do list is unfinished again and I “always” put off difficult things.
Even in coaching conversations, I often find out that learned strict self-reflection creates a negative view of one’s productivity. If this negative bias doesn’t change, you can read and listen all you want, but then your feelings about your productivity will probably only diminish. Because all the tips and tricks only make you feel like you’re not doing a good job yourself.
Investigations
What can you do to alleviate this learned strictness?
Get started by examining when these thoughts and feelings surface. Learning meditation is a great first step to sharpen your awareness of these emotions. Working with a coach, you can reflect on your own ideas about your productivity and what do steps you can take to work on them.
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