Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management.

Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention(əˈten(t)SH(ə)n) Management.

“Time management” is not a solution — it’s actually part of the problem.

By Adam(ˈadəm) Grant

A few years ago during a break in a leadership class I was teaching, a manager named Michael walked up looking unsettled(ˌənˈsedld). His boss(bäs,bôs) had told him he needed to be more productive, so he had spent a few hours analyzing(ˈanlˌīz) how he spent his time. He had already cut his nonessential(ˌnänəˈsen(t)SH(ə)l) meetings. He couldn’t find any tasks to drop from his calendar(ˈkaləndər). He didn’t see an obvious(ˈäbvēəs) way to do them more efficiently(əˈfiSHəntlē).

“This is going to sound like a joke, but it’s not,” he confessed(kənˈfes). “My only idea is to drink less water so I don’t have to go to the bathroom so many times.”

We live in a culture obsessed(əbˈses) with personal productivity. We devour(dəˈvou(ə)r) books on getting things done and dream of four-hour workweeks. We worship(ˈwərSHəp) at the altar(ˈôltər) of hustle(ˈhəsəl) and boast(bōst) about being busy. The key to getting things done, we’re often told, is time management. If you could just plan your schedule(ˈskejəl) better, you could reach productivity nirvana(nir-,nərˈvänə).

But after two decades of studying productivity, I’ve become convinced(kənˈvinst) that time management is not a solution — it’s actually part of the problem.

For most of my career(kəˈri(ə)r), the most frequent(ˈfrēkwənt) question I’ve gotten is: “How do I get more done?” Sometimes people ask because they know I’m an organizational(ˈˌôrɡənəˈzāSHənl) psychologist(sīˈkäləjəst), and productivity is one of my areas(ˈe(ə)rēə
) of expertise(-ˈtēs,ˌekspərˈtēz). More often they’re asking because they’ve read in a New York Times article or a popular book that I get a lot done.

But the truth is that I don’t feel very productive. I’m constantly falling short of my daily goals for progress, so I’ve struggled to answer the question. It wasn’t until that conversation with Michael that it dawned on me: Being prolific(prəˈlifik) is not about time management. There are a limited number of hours in the day, and focusing on time management just makes us more aware of how many of those hours we waste.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/smarter-living/productivity-isnt-about-time-management-its-about-attention-management.html