Should You Trust Science?
Your Productivity Budget is All Wrong
By chris danilo on Sep 04, 2017 06:12 am
The amount of “productive time” you have is just like the number of dollars you have.
You need to budget for the day-to-day expenses, as well as for emergencies and unexpected expenses.
So when you budget your money, not only do you earmark dollars for groceries, rent, and your car payment, but you also earmark dollars for unexpected car issues and maintenance (we know this costs an average of $66/month. Citation.)
You wouldn’t spend that money throughout the year and then suddenly panic when your alternator blows up in December, would you?
It’s the same thing with productivity.
The 3 Types of work:
Planned work – The work you expect to get done.unplanned work, and the work you do when there’s an emergency.
Unplanned work – This is usually work surrounding a task you planned for but underestimated.
Emergency work – The work you didn’t see coming and didn’t plan for.
Understanding this is crucial for goal setting and building sustainable motivation.
If you don’t budget for the unexpected, you’re always going to be disappointed with your results. This is a HUGE de-motivator.This increases the chances that you’ll quit!
It increases the chances that you’ll quit!
Think about this before you quit:
Goals that are difficult are motivating. Goals that are impossible are soul-crushing.
So what does this mean for your 40-hour work week? It means that only 25 might be planned, productive hours. That’s just reality.
The better we are at looking this in the face, resetting our goals, and charging forward, the more likely we are to succeed.
2 Minutes Action:
You probably already have a feeling about how much Planned Work you actually get done.
What’s your estimate? What’s your ratio between the three types of work?
Knowing where you stand is the first step. Start now.
P.S. If you have any of these symptoms, you should probably call me:
Your Planned work is over 80% of your total estimated work for the week.
Your Emergency work ends up being over 20% of the work you do in a week.
Your Unplanned work seems to keep repeating itself, week after week.
Recent Articles:
The 3 Questions That Will Change Your Productivity For Life
What Am I Doing With My Life?