You Fall To The Level Of Your Systems – The Climb #920

Monday 30th August 2021

For someone who goes on about productivity so much you’d think I have it all sorted. In truth, I go on about productivity so much because I personally need those tools.

It’s not that I’m particularly lazy without them, I’m just a bit disorganised and sporadic when I try and juggle a large number of projects. I’ve still managed to write and edit close to 400,000 words so far this year.

The problem is that almost everyone sees productivity as a binary. I used to. You’re either being productive or being lazy. The concept of Toxic Productivity came about because that binary can be pushed to the max.

In truth productivity is not about maximising your output but improving it. It’s about accepting you are a human being not a robot and trying to make 1%, 10%, any improvement. That’s done with things like task stacking, time blocks, task triage and a myriad of other tools. You are unique and with it so is the way you approach work. Whilst there are general good principles, to really get the most out of yourself, you need something bespoke.

There’s a phrase I really like: “You fall to the level of your systems”

I recently did a poll of friends and asked them if they ever had two really productive days in a row. All of them said that those days when you just blast through stuff are rare, and are more often than not followed by a couple of unproductive days. These are busy, successful people.

But that’s where systems come in. They ensure that as you ebb and flow as a human being, your ebbs are caught and raised by your system. If productivity could be given a score from 1 to 10, and you naturally flow between and 5 and 8, systems are there to ensure you never drop below a 6.

Therefore, productivity shouldn’t be seen as shooting for a perfect 10 all the time. That’s impossible and anyone who tried will burn themselves out sooner or later. They’re also probably lying to themselves as well, packing their todo lists with a load of trivial tasks to feel busy. How many times have we all written a list and then added an item we’ve just done to immediately cross off and feel like we’re being productive? I still do it, and often it’s a little push start to motivate me to plough through my other (real) tasks.

This is why I’m fascinated by systems. I want to take the safety net they provide me and rise the bad days from a 6 to a 7. There’s still a large part of me that would love to find what max rate I could go out without burning out. is it a 9.8, or an 8.8? And if so, how can I rise the quality of my systems to always provide me close to that minimum?

I’m learning to pull it back a bit. 4 days of 7 is better than pushing myself to a 9 and then burning out to a 5 for the rest of the week.

The problem is that there’s no guide to all this. It’s only in the last 10 years that mental health is something we’ve started talking about. The best we have on mental energy is the spoons theory and even that is in the context of reduced capability due to mental illness.

So I’m reading into this coupled with my own self-awareness. I look at various approaches to productivity, motivation and lifehacks and see that all of them rely on systems. I try things, see what works for me, adapt it for me, and then revisit down the line as new ideas and theories emerge.

Currently, I’m massively into habits. There’s this idea of compound interest I’ve seen in a few things, where the benefits increase with regular repetition and routine. I’m not usually (and especially during the pandemic) good with routine. Things get done but they are completed in their own haphazard way.

Now understand that as much as I might complain about my habits, I still get The Climb done every day, I write most days. Reading into it, I adopt most of the best practise on habits. But I’m looking to rise the 6 of my systems to a 7.

I’m trying to understand why my new projects get stuck in planning and go beyond the usual reasons of procrastination / fear of starting. I’m trying to understand why I can do The Climb every day, but I can’t workout without accountability.

I have to remind myself often that I have systems that have aided me to get 400,000 words done so far this year. I just want it to be twice that and I still believe it’s possible without burn out.