Be Remarkably Productive
March 30, 2011
Author 
In 
Jared Goralnick who keeps the wonderful Techno Theory blog always shares smart thinking. Recently he wrote a post on something I’ve been practicing for years but never put into words. The notion of being remarkable, not productive:
Don’t confuse your task list with a way to get ahead. Doing one thing noteworthy will get you further than staying on the treadmill.
Go above and beyond and forget your to do’s.
It’s counter-intuitive but spot on. Getting your to do’s completed never changed a company or person. Instead, someone making a decision to go off protocol and take opportunity is the catalyst to change.
Whether you are the one creating your task list or not it’s always possible to be remarkable – especially right now in marketing, media and PR. No real excuses in a connected society, there is nothing stopping you but yourself.
I’m no longer a manager but in my days as one I would get excited when a team member found an opportunity to let their work shine and do something outside of their to do’s to benefit a client. In fact, for those who did this I always reinforced it to upper management and tried to get these people the recognition they deserved. Whereas some managers strangle it, I was attempting to reinforce deviant behavior by those who saw opportunity. They’re on the ground executing, initiative should always be taken. Sorry for the cliché but forgiveness, not permission should be the norm in marketing – we chose a field that is in flux, that’s part of the fun of it. Try things and iterate. Fail. Go even further and organize your team around failure.
The sad truth is that when there are 957 things to do, many of them pressing, it’s easy to do “good enough.” After all, some of our best work takes a lot of attention to detail and a lot of time. What we don’t realize is that 957 good enoughs is worth less than one above and beyond.
It’s okay to fall behind, and then to fall behind further. It’s tempting to switch into maintenance mode, to get more things done at good enough. But then you’re just on the treadmill. You’re not getting anywhere.
Don’t get things done. Put them off to work on something better. Be remarkable.
I’m on board with this. But to those who might not be as willing to take the Jack Bauer approach and just do it: make your case to your team and propose it. A smart management team will always see a logical reason why, and if you are concerned you’ll get a “no” add data to back up your rationale. If they still say no, you’re probably with the wrong team.
I’d also like to tweak Jared’s notion just a bit. Instead of not being productive, what if we flip it and ask people to be remarkably productive? Productivity focused on the right things (whether on your to do list or not) is going to yield something amazing, especially if team members can stop overthinking and get into a flow experience. That’s productivity, and it’s a beautiful thing when your team is able to ship. I think productivity has a negative connotation due to being associated with factory work, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
Be remarkably productive.
image credit: David Hilcher from Shutterstock
Jared Goralnick replied | Mar 30, 2011 (1 comment)
Thanks for writing up my article, Adam. And yes, I’d love to be remarkably productive. But I do think most of us will never be superhuman with our quantity of output, even if we get really good at flow. Where we have a chance to excel is to do something different–to choose the WHAT even if we can never excel at the HOW.
I’d like to be productive enough to meet expectations with the general day-to-day. And I’d like to wow people with noteworthy things that pull them in and delight–remarkable things–from time to time. But remarkably productive, I think that’s just a challenging goal, one fraught with the fate of many a new year’s resolution. Then again, feeling remarkably productive just it depends on who you’re comparing yourself to…any old blogger is pretty remarkable for writing while still carrying out all the regular life responsibilities…
Thanks again!
Adam Singer replied | Mar 30, 2011 (563 comments)
Cheers for the comment Jared. And yes I agree it is a challenging goal – but that’s a good thing. If not challenging, why bother? Perhaps the best answer, as you note, is to find a balance between day-to-day expectation and also to wow people with noteworthy things as well.
Matt Kostan replied | Mar 30, 2011 (9 comments)
One of the best line’s I’ve read in a while:
“957 good enoughs is worth less than one above and beyond”
Sydney Shore replied | Apr 30, 2011 (22 comments)
I totally agree. I never had any other connotation related to “being productive” but the positive ones. I guess, there really are instances that we’re being productive on the wrong venues. Worth reflecting upon, thanks for the insights.