How Productivity Systems are an Ill-Fitting Suit (and what ‘to do’ about it)

Does ‘Productivity’ Drive You Up a Wall, Too?

I’m a sucker for the magic tool that’s going to make me a productivity ninja. I’ve tried getting things done in every way, shape or form imaginable. It ain’t worked yet, my friends.

Here are just a few.

• Getting Things Done

• Behance Action Method

• Forster’s AutoFocus

• Seven Habits

They are all good systems. Well, I think they are. Trouble is I have never been able to fit myself into them. It’s probably just me, but I felt like I had to be under their control in order for them to work.

I do way too many things on the fly for them to work for me. Then on the other hand, I’m too ADHD and after a while doing things the same way over and over bores me more than I can bear.

You would think that as I got older, I’d get over little handicaps like that. It doesn’t happen that way, I just got mellower and learned some slightly better ways to react to my reputed lack of attention to detail.

So, I’ve always sought a better way. My partner in life and other endeavors says I never stick with the “program” long enough to have it work. I’ve always been ready, wallet in hand, to buy the latest piece of software that was going to make me a highly effective person.

I even went to several Seven Habits workshops.

photo credit: hawkexpress

Guess What

They all worked.

Until they didn’t.

And at some point, they always didn’t.

And then the other day I was out walking. I was tooling along, walking along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and listening to Brian Clark of CopyBlogger and Tony Clark, formerly of Success from the Nest. They are now partnered with Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action. Anyway, they were talking about systems they use to get done what they need to get done.

And Tony Clark Said Something

Something that got my attention. Seriously got my attention. He said the big problem with any of these systems for productivity is that they create an environment – think of something like the IronMan Super Suit from the movie – and we are supposed to somehow fit into it.

It was a real, “I could have had a V-8″ slap myself in the forehead moment.

Being old and crotchety, and somewhat ADHD, and entirely too stubborn, I am not going to bend to fit someone else’s system – even if I don’t have a system that works.

Are you like this?

It’s like this. I go in to buy a suit. Now I’m a barrel chested sort of guy, a cross between an ex-weightlifter and a very short fullback. Well, maybe not very short, but not 6′ 3″ or so like my son.

Something off the rack just would not fit me. It’s going to be too small in the chest, too long in the arms, and hang down to the bottom of my butt. That just wouldn’t do.

That last part doesn’t matter – I would never buy a suit – but it’s a great analogy.

Custom Tailored System

I have to have my own system. And I’m the only tailor who can design it.

Following the insight I picked up from that recording, here’s my plan. Maybe it’ll will be helpful to you, too. Let me know.

I am taking a couple of weeks to really look at how I function. For example, here are some of the things that I want to find out -

• What time of day am I at my highest energy level?

• What time am I at my lowest?

• When I do sit down to write, how do I know when it is time to stop?

• How often do I need to take a time out?

One thing I have already learned is that as the day goes on, it gets really easy to start bullshitting my self. That’s when I really start editing myself, when resistance gets the upper hand.

I’ve also learned that I get tired earlier than I used to and time is a little more limited.

If you take the time to figure these things out, your system for getting things done may appear before you. This is new for me. I’m sure I will need other questions answered and I’ll keep you up to date on my progress.

Change is usually an uphill-downhill path. I know I’ll screw up as will you. That’s time to keep on truckin’.

But once you get through the transition, you will know you are there. It’ll just have a certain feel to it.

• Take a minute and do two things for me. If this is helpful, tweet it or put it on facebook.

• And leave a comment for me. Tell me what your productivity and change challenges are and how you work with them.