On productivity
Just a quick peek into the blogosphere will tell you that a lot of folks are thinking about productivity these days. Popular blogs like Lifehacker and 43 Folders have made productivity into something of a daily obsession, and David Allen’s curiously popular Getting Things Done-program is touted not so much as a model but as a philosophy and a lifestyle. And although it is obvious that part of this obsession with a less cluttered life springs from the fact that life is increasingly seen as hectic and pressured, one cannot but be bemused how the pursuit of productiveness has gone from actually doing things to meta-productivity.
The industry of productivity – models, methods and all – is booming. New calendars, new Filofaxes, new systems are flooding the market, and we even have meta-meta-productivity, as in the case of blogs about ways to enhance ones life. In part this is a security blanket for the modern professional, a form of allowed escapism (”I’ll get my life together once I’ve managed to convert everything into this new and streamlined model of getting even more things done.”), but in part it seems to be a symptom of the impossibility of productivity in an age of interminable meetings, flying across the globe for one hour of meetings and signing a document, and rampant email. Digital and social grey goo is everywhere, and blogging wont solve it. Yeah, I’m cynical today (too).
