Productivity is relative

What does productivity mean to you? I am of the opinion that you define your productivity. It is one thing to know what being productive means, it another to know how you define it. In that sense, Productivity is relative.

I could say I was productive today because I have completed over 50 percent of the tasks I set out to do today but for someone else, productivity can mean writing 1000 words of a literature review or responding to all work-related emails.

Why am I stressing that you define your productivity? I am writing this so that you stop measuring your productivity with another person’s definition. This doesn’t always end well. It brings about more stress for you.

You may see someone’s post about writing 1500 words today on their PhD thesis and you barely wrote 500 words in yours then you start feeling inadequate. Before you go 150 km/hr down on the highway called Guilt, ask yourself if you and the person you are looking at have the same goals set this day.

You are productive in your own right as long as you define productivity correctly. Don’t go measuring your productivity by other people’s yardstick. You don’t need that additional pressure point PhD is enough of that already.

So as you start this new week define what productivity means to you and work with that. You just might realise that you are more productive than you give yourself credit for.