The Productive Manifesto Tara Rodden Robinson

The Productive Manifesto Tara Rodden Robinson Smashwords Edition Copyright © Tara Rodden Robinson, 2012 All rights reserved. This book or any portion of it may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in book reviews or mentions of the book. Table of Contents The Productive Manifesto About the Author It’s time for a revolution. For too long, you’ve been taught a pack of lies about productivity. You’ve been told that if you have 43 folders and your inbox is at zero, you’ve got it made. All you have to do is write every single idea down the moment each one arrives, organize those ideas into contexts, and spend your every waking hour tending your system. If you follow the directions, you’ve been promised a black belt and the title of Captain and Commander where you’re in total control and you’ve got a clear view of the horizon. But every productivity system promises much the same thing. Control. And it’s assumed that once you’re in control, you’ll experience a reduction in urgency. With less time spent fire-fighting, you’ll be able to behave more strategically--that is, you’ll have the freedom to pick and choose among your activities. With this freedom you’re supposed to experience a sort of autonomy that will allow you to become the master of your own destiny. The aspirations on the someday-maybe or the bucket list will no longer be merely dreams--they will be realized and enjoyed. However, it rarely works this way. The blizzard of ideas and commitments and email messages quickly fill the project lists. Every single moment adds more and more to the task lists. Because the lists are ever growing, there is no such thing as “finished.” There is no space between done and the next thing to do. So you run faster and faster in an effort to use velocity as a response to the ever increasing complexity of your life. The lies you’ve been told about productivity make all this much worse because they isolate you into a silo. For most of us, there is no one to delegate our work to and we must pretty much go it alone. The productivity lies cater to your ego because they tell you if you can just get it on your list, you can do it. All of it. The lies overwhelm you by implying that you must capture everything that comes your way: every idea, every piece of information that might someday be relevant. The lies whisper that any sign of struggle means you’re weak. The lies seduce you into believing that you’ll gain control of your life when you no longer have to depend on your memory to remind you what to do. And when you attempt to do this and fail, the lies say you need a more trusted system or a different method or another gadget. And most malicious lie is: if you try hard enough, you will get there. Except, there is no there there. Yet you continue to slave away at collecting and processing and organizing, praying that this time, you’ll get your head above water for good. Then there’s that free moment and you have a context list, so you’re off and running again. You hammer at driving your inbox to zero. And at the end of the day, you feel exhausted and empty and too tired to see your friends or play with your kids. Is an empty inbox really what you want to be remembered for? The tips and tricks that productivity hacks offer won’t cut it any more. They don’t have anything new to say--they just jibber-jabber the same tired, unhelpful hints over and over. The only way out of this mess is to expose the lies and direct attention at the roots of the problem. It’s time to call bullshit on the lies. 1.) Control is not the answer. The state of the world demands a new way of being. The economic landscape has changed irrevocably—and those changes are ongoing. The days when you could get a job and hold it for the rest of your life are gone. Not only that, but the new generation of workers has rejected the very idea of a long-term, monolithic, one-stop career. You’re going to have to be extremely resilient, adaptable, and comfortable with uncertainty to be successful. You have to let go of control and learn to ride the waves. Being strategic does’t mean you have to turn into a control freak or a wildly extravagant visionary. Strategy comes when you have the courage to stop running and get still enough to really look at what’s going on around you and assess where you really want to go by consulting your heart as well as your head. 2.) The fire hose you’ve been drinking from doesn’t care if you drown. The constant 24-7 connection, the always-on inflow of information and ideas, the ever-changing landscape of technology: this is the fire hose that’s blasting you into oblivion. The solutions that productivity offers you keep you under the fire hose tsunami. The ubiquitous capture mentality chains you to devices and tools that must be carried everywhere and used constantly. The tools and technologies that were meant to make your life better and save you time have become black holes sucking down all the time and energy you are willing to give them. You’re going to have to save your own life. You cannot shut off the fire hose. But you can shut your mouth, shut off your phone, and walk away. The real players in this world are willing to pay opportunity costs. They’ve let go of the idea that they have to capture every single stinking little idea and every teensy bit of information. Because they know that the really good ideas will hang around and the truly important information is always available and easily accessible. And they never go it alone. They ask for help because trying to do it all alone is not only impossible, but it’s also lonely and empty. And finally, they’re really good at saying ‘no’ from their guts and their hearts. Letting go of opportunities is easy when you grasp how abundant opportunity truly is. 3.) Inbox zero doesn’t contribute to your legacy. While you’re toiling on the runway, your life is passing you by. Your parents are aging and your children are growing up. And you’re not getting any younger. The 43 folders, the three “most important things,” the context lists--none of those will really matter in the grand scheme of things. You won’t be remembered for how well you worked your lists or how often you did your weekly reviews. It’s not what you do that leaves your legacy. It’s who you are. You are the contribution. You: shared, enjoyed, experienced. In relationships. In communities. With your family. With your friends. With your coworkers. With people you meet on the street. Intimacy--joyfully loving your fellow human beings--springs being vulnerable. This means sharing your authentic, real, flawed, beautiful self. With your struggles and your triumphs. Your ups and your downs. Your accomplishments and your incompletions. Because you are the best part. Being Productive is productivity with a heart The authors of Tribal Leadership identified Stage Three as “I’m great” (with the unspoken, “and you’re not”). Stage Three is the natural habitat of productivity. There’s nothing wrong with that—the problem is getting stuck at that stage of development. The productivity lies keep you trapped there. ... - tailieumienphi.vn