Do You Whine About Productivity?

Do You Whine About Productivity?
This post was previously published. It has been updated.

We interrupt the regularly scheduled program to present the following rant:


I routinely read a couple of websites discussing productivity methods.

There has been a rash of “this system won’t work for me because….” These are inevitably followed by all the excuses about why the person can’t possibly be productive.

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

“I can’t be productive because…

  • …my job is too unpredictable.
  • …I’m not at a computer all the time.
  • …I can’t keep paper with me everywhere.
  • …my work isn’t segmented into projects.
  • …I have to respond to everything as it comes up.
  • …my situation is different from everyone else’s.

The last point hits the truth. Everyone’s situation is different.

And no out-of-the-box solution is going to work for everyone.

It is up to each individual to find out what works and discard the rest.

And I can’t help feeling that the people who refuse to be productive because the system “doesn’t work” would just find other excuses why they can’t get moving even if presented with a perfectly tailored system.


Thank you for your attention. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.