The question, “What is Productivity?” has been present for me for over forty years. It's been a search. I somehow knew that productivity was the key to overall success. I define productivity as “Doing something worthwhile, striving to do it well and achieving a measurable goal that is intrinsically fulfilling.”

Sounds simple, but why is it so hard to achieve consistent productivity? I believe it's because it's very easy to fall into less productive ways of spending our time. 

One way to look at this is through a four quadrant model. 

The vertical axis is “Bad” and “Good.” The horizontal is "Easy" and "Hard."

Let me define what I mean by these words in this context. I call something bad if it opposes your aim and something is good if it supports your aim. This isn’t a judgment, it’s an observation based on our alignment or lack of alignment with our goals. 

If our goal is to climb Mt. Everest, and we are moving in the direction of Everest, that’s good. If we are going in the opposite direction of Everest, that’s bad. 

I call something easy that comes will little effort or strain. Something that is hard takes more work than something that is easy. It’s easier to hike to Everest base camp and harder to actually climb the summit of Mt. Everest. 

Of course we can apply these terms to our businesses and to our marketing. 

When we put these into a four-quadrant model, we get four different positions in regard to our productivity. Hard + Good = Productive. Hard + Bad = Workaholic. Easy + Bad = Procrastination. Easy + Good = Play. 

So let’s look at each of these positions in more detail. And as we’re doing this, ask yourself how much of your workday is spent in each of the quadrants?

Productivity

This is when we’re engaged in actions that are leading us towards our goals and that take some focused work to get there. In marketing, this can be a large number of activities. When we are purposefully engaged in writing, speaking, networking, and most importantly, reaching out and following up with prospects, we are being productive in our marketing. 

This is rather simple. We all understand what real productivity is. When we are productive, we feel engaged, fulfilled. We are learning and fine-tuning our actions. We are persistent and strive for excellence. 

Also remember that there are degrees of productivity. In the productivity box we may be at the lower left or the upper right. Some degree of productivity is demanded of all of us to earn our living. 

Workaholic

This position is often mistaken for productivity. After all, a workaholic works hard. But a workaholic is not working on the things that really matter. Workaholics work hard for the sake of working hard. 

A workaholic is someone who has no definite purpose, direction or goals. Or his goals are someone else’s. A workaholic doesn’t know where she’s going but is making good time. 

Are you a marketing workaholic who tries to do a dozen different things, works long hours but feel like you’re spinning your wheels? Your thought is “Well, if I do a lot of stuff, I’ll be successful some day.” But since you really don’t know where you’re going, except to survive, there isn’t a lot of excitement, joy or inspiration in your work. 

Procrastinator

The procrastinator is somewhat like the workaholic. Procrastinators have no direction or aim as well. But they don’t even work hard. They fritter their time away in useless, pointless activity whose main purpose is to avoid work completely. Not only are they disconnected to their goals, they are engaged in activities that produce no useful work whatever. 

Marketing procrastinators, think of giving talks, writing articles and connecting with new prospects, but instead check their email endlessly. They organize their desks, make calls to friends, watch Youtube, complain how they don’t have time and blame external conditions on their plight. Procrastinators live in the equivalent of marketing hell. 

Play

Someone who is playing is a big step up from procrastinating. And play is a very useful precursor to productivity. You might think of play as procrastination with a purpose. Your play is not yet real work where real results are produced but it’s setting the stage for productivity. 

If you watch children really play, there is tremendous energy and creativity. This energy and creativity is not focused on long terms goals, but engages all their faculties of communication and interaction for short-term wins.  

Marketing players are dreaming up plans, having conversations with associates, brainstorming, reading, creating models and solving problems. At its lowest level, play is a pleasant diversion that can be renewing and relaxing. At its highest level, play creates new realities out of nothing. Real play always leads to true productivity. 

Real play also includes hobbies, time with family and friends, exercise and other interactive activities. Passive downtime activities such as watching TV are less like play and more like procrastination - they do not renew you. 

What quadrant are you in?

So where do you spend most of your marketing time? I can’t tell you what the ideal balance is, but someone who is successful in their marketing spends more time in productivity and some time in play. Someone who is not very successful with their marketing is stuck in the positions of workaholic and procrastinator. 

The More Clients Bottom Line: For success in marketing, you need to aim for productivity. That doesn't mean working harder, but working with more direction and purpose and with definite achievable goals. And it's really the most fun you can possibly have!

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