Not Lazy, Just Need Some Help.

A productive person is someone who has clarity about what they’re going to do, discipline and persistence to do that work without getting distracted, the ability to focus on one thing at a time, energy enough to do those tasks, speed to do them promptly, a good estimation of how long it would take to complete tasks and therefore the ability to complete your work every day. 45

This person sounds mythical, don’t they? They conjure in our imagination a Greek demigod with Elon Musk’s blood running through their veins. But it’s possible to cultivate these skills and traits. As for everyone who lacks them… Well, to run with the Pantheon metaphor, they’re mere humans. Look down upon them my fellow demigod and judge them with the greatest of criticism.

But…

We might assume that people who struggle with productivity are lazy and we might assume this too quickly. We might tell ourselves they could fix their problems if only they decided to. Ever heard the phrase, “people will find time for what really matters to them”? Perman calls this the ‘willpower fallacy’. It’s simplistic thinking and fails to recognise that the causes that challenge our productivity are often complex. Simply deciding to change doesn’t address the complexity of this challenge. Personal change takes time. We don’t get the results from a Google search. 48

An alternative to this kind of thinking is not to simply assume that a lack of willpower is the problem; therefore, more willpower is needed. In a complex world with increasing demands and responsibilities, it could (more likely) be a lack of skill. The challenge of the modern world, where distractions abound, where we are still adjusting to modernity (and I might say that we are adjusting poorly more often than not – surely you feel that), makes productivity elusive and magnetises distractions and inefficiencies. 49

let’s keep in mind the foundations we looked at in the last post. Productivity is not only for ourselves. In the introduction list, I left out an important characteristic of a productive person. They are loving. They serve other people. In the productivity world, books, writers, and gurus are often concerned about your individual productivity. But as Christians, we are concerned for more. We want to help other people to do their best as well. We are not learning how to work in the modern environment for purely selfish reasons. But if we learn how to work in the modern environment, we ought to be driven to help others do the same. We should reserve judgement on others who are struggling to be productive. We should be slow to indite them with laziness. On the contrary, we should be quick to help. It might not be a lack of willpower, but a lack of skills. I’m sure we can sympathise with that ourselves. Managing smartphones, emails, and Youtube, so that we get the most out of them while avoiding the worst of them doesn’t just take willpower, it takes skill. You need to learn skills. You can’t just muster them up. 49-51

These skills include: determining your intermediate goals, choosing the activities to which you will give your time, defining and managing your projects, determining your next actions, managing your schedule, and just doing the work. 55

So what can you do?

Offer to help someone who seems to be struggling with their work. It might be a colleague of yours, someone in your Bible study group, or at church in a similar field of work. But it doesn’t have to be the same field of work. How to manage your phone will have overlapping applications between a lawyer and a tradesman.

As you help someone else, you will surely be the first person to admit your own struggles. Who doesn’t struggle to keep focused in the modern world were distractions are abundant and nearly force-fed to us?! We need to be humble when we help other people, especially because we are going to be in need of help ourselves. So why not ask other people for help? Ask them how they stay focused for longer than an hour (if they do). Ask them how they manage their emails so that they can work better. Ask them how they work even when they’re not motivated. Then when you learn from them, pass that learning on.

Too often, productivity books tell us to be productive for our own sake. But we can do better than that because we don’t just work for ourselves. We work to serve others and we can serve others by helping them work better as well.

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Perman, M. (2018). How to get unstuck: Breaking free from barriers to your productivity. Zondervan.