Productivity: is more better?

And, therefore, how much is enough to make us feel good?

Productivity Maths…

As a former economist I can state, confidently, that productivity means getting more, or the same, for the same or fewer inputs.

But I also know if I ask you what would be helpful to talk about when it comes to productivity, as I did with yesterday’s group, most of you would give me an answer closer to the feeling of achievement. We know we want to do, but we also want it to feel good. We want to have an experience of constructive contribution, and participation in activities that feed our soul.

So far so obvious.

The sticky part comes when we try to connect those two variables; when we make assumptions (innocently) about what getting things done means about achievement, and how we think we are measuring up to some yardstick of our own, or someone else’s past or future performance.

The Feeling of ‘More’…

I asked the group whether more felt better and, I think, universally we all had some level of awareness or experience that ‘more’ is a trap-a dog chasing its tail, or an ever-increasing, never-reachable target.

We were all pretty confident, or at least we had a suspicion, that ‘more’ doesn’t always satisfy.