- Productivity is dead.
That's right, I said it.
Or at least productivity
in the way that we used to think about it,
when we were obsessed with doing all the things.
And this is coming from someone
who was unknowingly featured in a Netflix series
for being a part of a cottage industry
of productivity gurus.
A cottage industry?
Okay, so in other words, working from home?
I will take that as a compliment, Netflix, thank you.
(bright pop music)
Ah, productivity.
What a journey it has been.
As if the relationship that we have
with our productive lifestyle
hasn't already been love/hate,
but as of the last couple years, mostly hate.
(chuckles) Everywhere you look,
we're reminded that time is so precious,
but we don't necessarily have to go so hard
to make the most of the time all the time.
And so, ambitious professionals like us
are dealing with this conundrum.
Yes, it's amazing to leverage strategies
for time management, but it's also really cool
to just chill out and live.
So where's the balance with striking balance?
(smooth electronic music)
The issue that we're coming to terms with
is that productivity is addicting.
Okay, we want shortcuts, we want the inside scoop,
we want someone to tell us
what we don't know that we don't know.
So this leads to a lot of absorbing
of how to get things done,
but the more that we do with that,
we're not actually getting things done,
not to mention the fact that there's all the work
that goes into trying things that might help you
to get things done, which is just further assisting you
and not doing anything real.
It's no wonder productivity
is taking it on the chin right now,
because it's so easy to fall down this rabbit hole
to try to figure out how you can be better,
that nothing's actually getting accomplished.
So productivity for the sake of productivity is dead.
If you keep asking yourself
why you are using some sort of system
and you can't seem to get to anything
other than the fact that
it's supposed to make me more productive,
then you're doing the wrong thing.
The answer should be
because you are actually keeping up with the habit
or taking the necessary steps
to make something of a goal real in your life,
so you know when that's not happening,
that it is not working
and it isn't productivity that doesn't work,
it is the addiction to finding new ways to do things
that doesn't work.
I think the real culprit here,
the assassin, if you will, is hustle culture.
We became more obsessed with being more productive
in time management when the idea of hustling
to get to where you want to be
and leveraging every moment became sort of en vogue.
Now, if I'm being honest,
hustle culture does work for some people,
but it doesn't work for many others.
I got my start in the beginning by hustling on the side.
I had a full-time job
and I worked on my thing when I had my own hours.
- Amy, thanks so much for being with us.
It seems like everyone we talk to these days
has kind of a side hustle, a side job.
Is that true?
Are there more of those opportunities out there?
- There's so many opportunities,
but, actually, no, not everybody does have one.
In fact, there's a lot of people
who don't have one and want one.
I think we just kind of get held up
in those first steps of making it happen,
but there's so much opportunity.
And then, when I went full time into entrepreneurship,
I still was hustling a lot.
I was working very long days
and I was doing it because I could.
I was young, I had energy, I could do it.
I got married on Sunday in Las Vegas,
and I just thought, where do I want to go for my honeymoon?
(audience laughs)
Cleveland, right?
Obviously.
So I'm subjecting you
to celebrating with me right now, okay?
My priorities now are shifting.
I'm now coming back from maternity leave.
I have a three-month-old child,
and when I look at all the things that I have to do
and all of the ways I used to do them,
they don't work for me now,
and hustling looks a lot different.
As I sit here, this is probably the longest period of time
I have been away from my child,
and this has just been a few hours.
And my new priority really is
that I want to spend more time with her
than I'm spending on work,
and I think a lot of people are feeling the exact same way.
They're saying, you know what?
I don't want to spend so many hours working.
I want to work so that I can live,
and I want to live to the fullest.
I want to GATLUW.
I want to go after the life I want.
So this is negatively affecting these working strategies
for no arbitrary reason, because, in all actuality,
if you want to use more of your time
for the things that you love,
it actually does pay off to find a productivity process
that works for your situation.
(smooth electronic music)
Okay, so when we talk about implementing productivity
in your day to day, we need to really understand
what is that special way of approaching it
that is going to work for you,
the way that you work, the way that you focus,
the way you want to balance your life,
and the way you need to get things done,
so that you can provide for yourself and your family.
First, I want you to start adding things to a list.
This list is of struggles and questions that you have
when it comes to the challenge of getting things done.
It's one thing to watch a video
and get a great productivity tip
and then decide I'm gonna go do that thing right now.
It's another thing entirely
to actually look at your own life
and understand the context of the issues you have
when it comes to getting things done.
The two may not match at all.
If you don't acknowledge and really understand
your own obstacles in your day to day life,
it's gonna be a lot harder to find the right solution.
Next, I want you to start to navigate
different productivity advice that could work for you,
but if they take a significant period of time to set up,
I want you to wait before you even try it.
You know how it goes, you see a YouTube video,
you like an idea,
you say I am going to start doing this to organize my life,
but whatever it is takes a lot of setup,
whether it's a bullet journal,
so you start outlining all of your pages
before you even start using them
to help you check things off,
or some other arbitrary productivity process
that you get excited about
because you understand how to get it going
rather than getting something critical in your life moving.
I want you to avoid this altogether
and just note the idea down.
Note that, okay, we're gonna try calendar blocking,
but not yet, because I'm not gonna set up all my calendars
and all my color codes and all this stuff
until I know for sure
that it could actually really work for me.
So with that idea in the back of your head,
continue doing things the way you're already doing them.
And then, as it occurs to you every day, every hour,
maybe every minute that you're like,
if only I'd calendar blocked, if only I'd calendar blocked,
you're selling yourself on the idea
that you might actually use it.
What I don't want you to do
is set up all of your calendar block system
and then not use it.
That is precious time that is wasted.
So think of it as buyer's remorse.
You know how, if you want to make a really big purchase,
you sleep on it,
just to make sure you don't make a snap decision?
Sleep on your productivity advice, okay?
Get really good sleep, 'cause that's a great start,
and then, when you're like
I am setting up that bullet journal,
I am setting up that calendar blocking system,
ut is going to happen
because I know I'm gonna make the most of it immediately,
then go to town.
Finally, I want you to get obsessed with your goal
rather than how you're going to get there.
When you think about getting obsessed with your goal,
it really just has to do with clarity of what it looks like,
because being able to visualize crossing that finish line
is what's gonna help you every single day
to chip away at the little things
that are gonna get you there.
Of course, it's exciting to figure out the hows
of the big thing that we want,
but nothing is better than the actual vision itself.
And truly, if you want to achieve something,
you have to be very focused on what that is,
but very flexible on how it could happen.
'Cause if we're too rigid about,
well, I have to do it this way
or I have to get the help exactly like this,
then we might miss something even better coming along
or a shortcut that actually works.
It is very likely that you're going to be changing course
along the way to your goal,
so don't get married to the vehicle you're in.
That's all for today.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate it, as always.
Remember, subscribe for good vibes,
kiss the ones you love, (smooches)
and go after the life you want.
I'll see you back here on the next one.
Cheers.
Are we doing this?
You see content out there now
that's like productivity is dead, including this video.
Somebody's got a baby.
I literally rented this Airbnb
to not have a baby screaming in the next room.
Okay, are you ready for your first YouTube closeup, my love?
Oh, god, is this considered child labor?
I'm not sure.
Let's do one more, ready?
Get really mad.
(baby fusses)
God, you're amazing. (laughs)
You're amazing!
You were just built for this.
Say hello.
Say I know how to say hello.
Say hello.
Hello.
(baby babbles)
Hello.