Are You Being Productive or Are You Making Progress?
They deliver very different results
I write a lot about productivity as do many writers, but until recently, I’ve never really considered that being productive is not the same as making progress. My epiphany came after reading several interesting articles by Ninja Shaunta Grimes about how she plans her work. I realized that she applies a version of the process I use when I’m working on large communications projects for my clients.
Much of my consulting work centers on organizations that need to meet legally mandated disclosure requirements or other types of deadline-driven communications. Often, each project is composed of several different documents for different audiences. I always approach it more as a project manager than as a writer/editor since it requires me to monitor progress and ensure that every element hits all the right marks. (You can see more details here.)
After reading Shaunta’s articles, I decided to adopt this same process to the writing projects I’ve been wanting to work on but have never started. As I was building out an Excel spreadsheet for what I wanted to accomplish in 2022, I realized that while I always was productive — getting things done — I was making progress in only a few areas. It started me thinking about the difference between productivity and progress and why both are different and important.
My 2022 writing project plan — page 1
“It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less.” — Nathan W. Morris
Is being productive the same thing as making progress?
While productivity and progress can go hand-in-hand, they are different things, and they both matter. When we are productive, we are maximizing our resources to increase outputs. It is pushing things out, getting things done. Progress is making quantifiable, forward movement toward a goal we have set and desire to reach.
For example, when I started freelancing, I wrote every day and started to get published. I then set a goal of qualifying for admission to the American Society of Journalists and Authors, which required me to produce a specific volume of published work. So, I directed every article toward that goal and grew more confident and more satisfied with my efforts as each successful article inched me forward.
We can be productive all day and pump out content, but if all that content isn’t moving us forward, we’re spinning in place. We’re accumulating stuff, but not going anywhere. In addition, the effort to constantly be productive depletes our energy and creativity. It can wear us down and lead to burnout whereas making progress toward a well-defined goal energizes us and often requires less effort to achieve. We don’t need to religiously feed the gaping maw of productivity to make progress toward our goals. Instead, we can focus on making slow, steady progress and keep closing the gap between where we are now and where we want to go.
“A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.” — Alfred A. Montapert
