Lessons in productivity

What being self-employed has taught me about getting sh*t done

Beyond the darker mornings, a mounting list of tasks, and worrying about my next pay-check, there’s one thing that has dominated my thoughts this week: productivity.

“That sounds a bit nerdy, Jess. Don’t you have more important things to be worrying about?”

Well, yes. And no. Allow me to explain.

Since becoming self-employed back in August, I’ve been spending an awful lot of time trying to figure out how I work most effectively. Do I do my best writing in the morning? (no) Am I more focused between the hours of 2-5pm? (also no) Are my most creative ideas those that come during an afternoon walk or cycle? (a big fat resounding YES!)

When am I most productive? (uhhh…)

It’s a question I’ve been clawing at, desperate to maximise the hours that now stretch endlessly in front of me. My primary goal is to keep being self-employed, which basically means I need to figure out how to get sh*t done when the person setting the deadlines is also the person doing the work.

Or does it?

I’ve spent most (read: all) of my adult life believing that time sat in a classroom, in an office, or behind a desk = being productive. I’d tap away at the keyboard or scribble in a notebook and then eight hours later give myself a massive pat on the back for a job well done. “Go you”, I’d say, “today has been time well spent”.

But has it?

Since becoming my own boss, I’ve found myself sinking countless hours into a single task. I get through an embarrassing number of tea-bags, completely miss lunch, and then haphazardly glance at the clock to find it’s already 7pm. The entire day has passed in the blink of an eye and I’ve barely scratched the surface of my to-do list. And then I kick myself for being rubbish at this working-for-myself malarkey, wondering what on earth I’m doing wrong.

But over the past couple of days, something has shifted. Sure, I might have spent the entire day on a single task, but was it important? Absolutely. Did it move me closer to my goal? Definitely. And was it, arguably, the single most valuable thing I could have spent my time on? Without a doubt!

Back when I was working full-time, I prided myself on how much I could get through in a day - I’d tick off one task just to start another. I felt unstoppable. But now I wonder if I was just really good at being busy. Were those things actually important? Now I’m not so sure.

At work, my day would be filled with endless micro-tasks and interactions. Replying to slack messages, reading emails, preparing for meetings, attending meetings, writing notes during meetings, sending follow-ups after meetings - you get the gist. And sure, all of this was important to an extent - it helped keep the machine functioning and well-oiled - but were those things really helping me to move the needle on the big stuff? The stuff that truly mattered? Probably not.

Similarly, on the rare occasion I’d venture into the office I would often leave feeling exhausted, but strangely accomplished. “I got so much done” I’d proclaim, smug as a cat, when in reality most of that doing involved fifteen trips to the coffee machine, an extended lunch break at the new sandwich shop downstairs, and lots of aimless wandering between desks. I hadn’t really done anything at all, apart from kid myself that multitasking meant moving around a lot.

And yet this is how I lived my life. Eight hours a day, five days a week. Convinced that caffeine-fuelled fidgeting counted as productivity. And all the while, those big ticket items, the things that were actually going to move me closer towards my goal, were being quietly ignored while I performed my one-person parade of minor tasks and distractions.

My days look a little different these days. There’s no fluff in my day. No spreadsheets to update. No decks to prepare. No slack notifications screaming for my attention. So is it any wonder I feel wildly unproductive, when I’ve spent the best part of thirty years training my brain to equate productivity with tiny, instantly gratifying wins? Hell, we even get taught to “tick off the small tasks first” so that we fool ourselves into thinking we’ve accomplished something.

So now, when the work is slow, or requires real focus, a day of genuine progress can suddenly feel like I’ve achieved nothing at all.

But I’d like to change that. I’d like to reframe how I see productivity, and what it looks like in daily practice. I want to swap aimless days behind my laptop for breakfasts with friends. I want to prioritise taking afternoon walks, or going for a bike ride, simply because I know that moving my body makes me a happier person. I want to demonise the desk, and champion the outdoors, because stepping away is often what allows patterns to emerge and directions to take shape. And sometimes I want to do nothing at all. Sometimes, doing nothing is progress. Sometimes, the most important work is the work that doesn’t feel like work at all.

So, after a fair amount of trial and error (and more cups-of-tea than any human should reasonably consume) here are some of the surprising lessons I’ve picked up about actually getting sh*t done 👇