The Productive Manifesto Tara Rodden Robinson doc

If you follow the directions, you’ve been promised a black belt and the title of Captain and Commander where you’re in total control and you’ve got a clear view of the horizon.. And it’s

The Productive Manifesto

Tara Rodden Robinson

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © Tara Rodden Robinson, 2012

All rights reserved This book or any portion of it may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in book

reviews or mentions of the book.

Table of Contents

The Productive Manifesto About the Author

It’s time for a revolution

For too long, you’ve been taught a pack of lies about productivity

You’ve been told that if you have 43 folders and your inbox is at zero, you’ve got it made All you have to do is write every single idea down the moment each one arrives, organize those ideas into contexts, and spend your every waking hour tending your system

If you follow the directions, you’ve been promised a black belt and the title of Captain and Commander where you’re in total control and you’ve got a clear view of the horizon

But every productivity system promises much the same thing Control And it’s assumed that once you’re in control, you’ll experience a reduction

in urgency With less time spent fire-fighting, you’ll be able to behave more strategically that is, you’ll have the freedom to pick and choose among your activities With this freedom you’re supposed to experience a sort of autonomy that will allow you to become the master of your own destiny The aspirations on the someday-maybe or the bucket list will no longer be merely dreams they will be realized and enjoyed

However, it rarely works this way

The blizzard of ideas and commitments and email messages quickly fill the project lists Every single moment adds more and more to the task lists Because the lists are ever growing, there is no such thing as

“finished.” There is no space between done and the next thing to do So you run faster and faster in an effort to use velocity as a response to the ever increasing complexity of your life

The lies you’ve been told about productivity make all this much worse because they isolate you into a silo For most of us, there is no one to delegate our work to and we must pretty much go it alone

The productivity lies cater to your ego because they tell you if you can just get it on your list, you can do it All of it

The lies overwhelm you by implying that you must capture everything that comes your way: every idea, every piece of information that might someday be relevant

The lies whisper that any sign of struggle means you’re weak

The lies seduce you into believing that you’ll gain control of your life when you no longer have to depend on your memory to remind you what

to do And when you attempt to do this and fail, the lies say you need a more trusted system or a different method or another gadget

And most malicious lie is: if you try hard enough, you will get there

Except, there is no there there

Yet you continue to slave away at collecting and processing and

organizing, praying that this time, you’ll get your head above water for

good Then there’s that free moment and you have a context list, so you’re off and running again You hammer at driving your inbox to zero And at the end of the day, you feel exhausted and empty and too tired to see your friends or play with your kids

Is an empty inbox really what you want to be

remembered for?

The tips and tricks that productivity hacks offer won’t cut it any more They don’t have anything new to say they just jibber-jabber the same

tired, unhelpful hints over and over The only way out of this mess is to expose the lies and direct attention at the roots of the problem

It’s time to call bullshit on the lies

1.) Control is not the answer

The state of the world demands a new way of being The economic

landscape has changed irrevocably—and those changes are ongoing The days when you could get a job and hold it for the rest of your life are gone Not only that, but the new generation of workers has rejected the very idea

of a long-term, monolithic, one-stop career

You’re going to have to be extremely resilient, adaptable, and

comfortable with uncertainty to be successful

You have to let go of control and learn to ride the

waves.

Being strategic does’t mean you have to turn into a control freak or a wildly extravagant visionary Strategy comes when you have the courage

to stop running and get still enough to really look at what’s going on around you and assess where you really want to go by consulting your heart as well as your head

2.) The fire hose you’ve been drinking from doesn’t care if you drown

The constant 24-7 connection, the always-on inflow of information and ideas, the ever-changing landscape of technology: this is the fire hose

that’s blasting you into oblivion

The solutions that productivity offers you keep you under the fire hose tsunami The ubiquitous capture mentality chains you to devices and tools that must be carried everywhere and used constantly The tools and

technologies that were meant to make your life better and save you time

have become black holes sucking down all the time and energy you are willing to give them

You’re going to have to save your own life.

You cannot shut off the fire hose But you can shut your mouth, shut off your phone, and walk away

The real players in this world are willing to pay opportunity costs

They’ve let go of the idea that they have to capture every single stinking little idea and every teensy bit of information Because they know that the really good ideas will hang around and the truly important information is always available and easily accessible And they never go it alone They ask for help because trying to do it all alone is not only impossible, but it’s also lonely and empty And finally, they’re really good at saying ‘no’ from their guts and their hearts

Letting go of opportunities is easy when you grasp how abundant

opportunity truly is

3.) Inbox zero doesn’t contribute to your legacy

While you’re toiling on the runway, your life is passing you by Your parents are aging and your children are growing up And you’re not getting any younger The 43 folders, the three “most important things,” the context lists none of those will really matter in the grand scheme of things You won’t be remembered for how well you worked your lists or how often you did your weekly reviews

It’s not what you do that leaves your legacy It’s who you are

You are the contribution.

You: shared, enjoyed, experienced In relationships In communities With your family With your friends With your coworkers With people you meet on the street

Intimacy joyfully loving your fellow human beings springs being

vulnerable This means sharing your authentic, real, flawed, beautiful self With your struggles and your triumphs Your ups and your downs Your accomplishments and your incompletions Because you are the best part

Being Productive is productivity with a heart

The authors of Tribal Leadership identified Stage Three as “I’m great”

(with the unspoken, “and you’re not”) Stage Three is the natural habitat of productivity There’s nothing wrong with that—the problem is getting stuck

at that stage of development The productivity lies keep you trapped there

To get to the next level requires a “we,” not a “me.”

Jim Collins, in Good to Great, described the most productive people as

those who were ambitious for a group, not merely for themselves It’s that unselfish ambition, paired with humility, that supplies the most powerful perspective of all: sharing control and fostering collaboration

Being Productive is about tapping into the big WE

You’re not in control and you’re not supposed to be Life is messy and the best parts are unscripted, unplanned, and uncontrolled Sharing control takes the pressure off and allows you to be innovative, creative, inventive You don’t have to do it all and you don’t have to go it alone Asking for help invites others to contribute to and with you and allows you to create and deepen your relationships For more joy For a lot more fun

The best strategy is the one that allows you to use your head and your heart Fully engaged Present and accounted for So the question is

What is your heart calling you to do?

You don’t have to save the world.

You just have to show up and do your part Whatever that is No matter how big Or small

Join the Productive revolution Here are seven things you can do to begin, right now.

1.) Practice mindfulness.

To be Productive, you must be fully alive Fully alive means conscious, aware, awake, present Look, see, and believe with humility and gratitude Turn off your cell phone and give your full attention to people and places

2.) Take good care of yourself.

Once mindful, you must care for yourself so that you have the energy and resources to act Physical care means making careful food choices, exercising regularly for stamina and strength, maintaining a healthy weight, and practicing preventative medicine Mental care means seeking positive imagery and intellectual stimulation Emotional care is actively choosing

happiness and taking steps to improve your mental outlook Spiritual care means safeguarding your soul through attention to cultivating ethical and moral beliefs and a practice that includes time for reflection and rest Give yourself full permission to stretch out, rest, relax, rejuvenate

3.) Love and be loved

When you are well cared for, you have resources to share with others Thus, you nurture the capacity to love and be loved, help and be helped Loving includes being polite and kind, acting with graciousness,

forbearance, and forgiveness Being loved means allowing others to care for and help you, providing you with safety and support

4.) Recognize and nurture the greatness of others.

Being truly Productive depends on your ability to recognize and nurture the greatness of others This means identifying and acknowledging

strengths, talents, and gifts you see in other people This is how you form the WE that allows your greatest contribution to come into being and grow

5.) Acquire knowledge and skills

Truly Productive people work to improve their performance by acquiring new knowledge and skills and upgrading knowledge and skills they already possess You can do this through reading, attending seminars and

trainings (followed by debrief and review), getting coached, soliciting

feedback on past performance, self assessment, and tracking milestones and progress Keeping a journal and engaging in metacognition (thinking about your thinking) will also facilitate improved performance

Act at the speed of instruction; in other words, when new knowledge and skills are introduced, test them out immediately This is one of the key behaviors that sets being Productive apart from mere productivity

6.) Implement best practices.

Identify and implement the best practices for efficient and effective

performance From your tests of new knowledge and skills, discard what doesn’t work or isn’t a good fit for you Retain only that which gives you the best results This is part of being truly Productive rather than following the herd attached to the latest productivity fad

7.) Invest yourself.

This is where your greatest contribution comes from: the disciplined investment of time, energy, money, and psychological capital (self-efficacy, resilience, optimism, belief, hope, perseverance) Set your intentions then carefully apply time, energy, money, and psychological resources while maintaining a sense of return on investment Review activities, projects, and ROI regularly and often

Investing yourself means risking caring and therefore, risking

disappointment That risk is the true sign that you’re bringing your whole self to the table

Oh, and one more thing

Join our community.

I want to invite you to join our tribe This is a big deal This WE thing is just BS unless there’s an actual WE to go with it I can’t do much alone I’ve tried

I’m looking for just the right people to become part of the WE who want

to be Productive in the world at large The movers and shakers The

people who care And love And risk themselves to contribute

Not just for ourselves alone, but for all The marginalized The invisible The underserved Humans Creatures The planet as a whole

Together WE — you, me, all of us — can make a difference It’s not hard In

fact, it’s ridiculously easy

We can provide clean water for people everywhere, freeing girls to go to school Girls who go to school bring economic wellbeing to their families Their children are more likely go on to be educated themselves Education frees people to live healthier, more productive lives

We can help our kids to be responsible adults We can do this by being reliable, keeping our promises, and being present and accounted for This means engaging and actually listening Simple and free Only takes a few minutes Priceless rewards

We can be joyful and live abundant lives Focusing on gratitude, simply listing each day what you’re grateful for, which can make an enormous difference in your life There is even scientific evidence to back this up: people who practice gratitude are more resilient in times of adversity and cope better with stress

If you’re ready for productivity to have a beating, caring heart, then

forward this manifesto.

Spread it far and wide

Invite people to join us by visiting our website, ProductivityHQ.com, for updates, events, and activities

The revolution is happening You can

be a part of something great

About the Author

Tara Rodden Robinson is an author, coach, and educator Known as The Productivity Maven, she blogs at www.tararobinson.com and tweets

@tararodden Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Productivity HQ, Tara is an acknowledged expert in a variety of productivity methods including GTD®, David Allen’s popular method otherwise known as Getting Things Done® She has hosted the GTD® Virtual Study Group, a podcast by and for

productivity enthusiasts, for the past five years As the Productivity

Facilitator for Cascade Employers Association, Tara provides coaching, consulting, training and speaking services She is credentialed as an

Associated Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation

Tara lives in Corvallis, Oregon, with her husband and their two dogs She is working on mastering complex yoga poses and searching for the perfect gluten-free bread recipe Every time she gets the chance, she’s out

in the wilderness hiking and watching birds