If the above phrases don’t make you want to narrow your eyes, shoot a darting glare at someone and/or grit your teeth with jealousy, then you’re probably in denial. Because yes, your desire to increase your productivity can produce a nasty green-eyed monster called jealousy. It sure can be annoying hearing about yet another work colleague getting to inbox zero or collating 200 copies of a complex marketing presentation in 30 minutes – better, stronger and faster than the Six Million Dollar Man himself (cue a rousing chorus of booing and hissing). While you might seek solace in loving to hate people who are more productive than yourself, the truth of the matter is that you really shouldn’t care about other people’s productivity. And the best way to increase your own productivity is to ignore what everyone else is doing, and follow the only guide or measurement over which you have control: how you work. Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t care about other people’s productivity and what you can do to increase your own productivity:
Why You Shouldn’t Care About Other People’s Productivity
You are you. You are not other people. You are not “them.” You decide and are responsible for how you want to make the most out of your energy and time. You waste more time and effort chatting, talking, gossiping and scheming about other people’s productivity. All of that energy could have been used to help you become more productive and get more work done in a shorter amount of time. Instead of putting in extra hours at work, you could be at home or at the beach relaxing! Talking about other people’s accomplishments diminishes your own accomplishments. You can compare yourself to other people until you are blue in the face, but what good will that do? You’ll belittle what you just accomplished, or what you could potentially accomplish in future.
What You Can Do to Increase Your Own Productivity
Give yourself a passion-filled reason to improve your productivity and get stuff done. We all have different reasons for becoming more productive. Why do you want to finish processing your email inbox at a reasonable hour at work? Do you want to get home to spend more time with your family, or to go through that giant stack of DVDs of The Wire you’ve been meaning to watch? Know what slows you down when working. Do you take a long 15 minutes (maybe one hour?) checking Facebook or Pinterest? Do you procrastinate at work when it comes to filling out your travel expenses? Do you get bored and fidgety after staring at the computer for 30 minutes straight? You know more about your own work habits than you think. Specify and target your own goals. Do you want to process invoices faster, or perhaps get that ton of paper filing done in 30 minutes? You can set your own target, do research for tips, ideas and hacks on how to become more productive, and reach your goal…at your own comfortable pace!
The next time you hear of another feat of office productivity prowess that makes you want to run off and scream in the office supply closet, think kind and good thoughts towards the Suzannes and Jeremys in your life. Remember, the only person whose productivity you should be concerned about is yourself. Choose your target and blow it out of the proverbial productivity water!
