Rubbish title I know. But it is important. A productivity process is something we use to help ourselves become more productive. It might be a to do list. It might be the way we arrange our desk. Even the time we get up in the morning and start working.
These processes go through a four stage cycle which indicates how ‘sticky’ they are – that is, how easy it is for use to use them versus not use them.
Lets have a look at the four stages:
New [medium sticky]
When we first discover a new way of doing things, we have two pulls on us – an excitement and an interest that encourages us to use the process, and a protective/don’t-like-change/can’t-be-bothered-to-learn push against it. Most people manage to give something sufficient attention to see if it works.
Passe [medium slippy]
Oddly, the excitement of new-ness often subsides before we get comfortable with using something are part of our routine. This is a difficult time for such processes, and is the most common time to abandon them.
Routine [very sticky]
Once we get through the difficult Passe phase, then processes become embedded in our daily life. We just do them. Almost by instinct. Golfers called this ‘grooved’ – you have done something so many times that it becomes the sub-conscious things you do, and the route of least resistance.
Fatigue [very slippy]
When you have been doing the same thing for a long period of time, then fatigue kicks in. You start to take the benefits for granted, and focus on how tiresome it has become. This is when we tend to throw our systems and processes out the window – when I declare once again that I am moving back to a paper and pencil GTD system.
These phases happen whether we like them or not. And usually the latter. What we can try and effect however is how big the two most sticky phases are, and how small the slippy phases are. The more time you can keep what you are using in the New and Routine phases, then the more productive you will be.
How do we do this? Firstly, make new stuff routine straight away – use it again, and again, and again until you don’t have to think about it. If you can do this before the novelty of it’s flashing lights and pretty colours wears off, then you have done well.
Secondly, once something is Routine, then change little bits of it frequently to keep it fresh. Change the font. Use a different colour pen. By a new notebook when you are three-quarters full rather than painfully filling out the last pages.
So action points:
- Identify what you use and do to be productive
- Decide where in the cycle they all are, and how long until they move into another part
- Plan how you are going to keep things in New and Routine
