The Part of Productivity AI Can't Give You

The noise around productivity has gotten really loud lately, and I think a lot of it has to do with AI. There are apps, tools, and technology promising to 10X your output, and every corner of the internet is telling you how to squeeze more into your day. But what if that constant push to produce more, faster, is actually making you worse at the very thing it's claiming to help you with?

In this episode, I'm breaking down why two of the most important types of productivity are being completely ignored right now and what it's costing you.

What You'll Learn:

• Why the push to always be producing is working against you in ways you might not see yet
• The type of productivity that happens when you step away from your to-do list completely
• How well-meaning advice is quietly converting your best thinking time into more output mode
• Why what happens when you sleep matters more to your productivity than any app or tool ever could
• Two small things you can do this week to start getting it back

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Thanks for tuning in!
Megan 🩷🐝

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:59

Have you noticed how loud the noise has gotten lately about productivity, about being more efficient, about getting more stuff done? I think a lot of this is due to the rise of AI, right? I'm seeing it subtly in all of the messaging out there. There are apps, there are technology, there are AI tools promising that things are going to be able to 10x your output, showing you how you can be kind of multitasking, right? And I feel like every corner of the internet right now is telling you how to squeeze more in your day, how to be more productive. There's this subtle constant push to produce more faster all the time. And today I want to talk about why this push is actually making us worse at the very thing it is claiming to help us with, meaning why this push is actually making us less productive. Welcome to the Work Life Harmony Podcast. Guess what? You don't have to feel constantly overwhelmed, exhausted, and stressed out. There is another way. When you have the right systems and tools to plan and manage your time, you can live a life of harmony. If you're ready to stop feeling overwhelmed, this is the show for you. Several years ago here on the podcast, I did an episode around the three types of productivity. And I thought today it would be really important to revisit that conversation under this lens, because I feel like this push around productivity has just amplified, especially over the last six months. And I wanted to bring this topic back because two of the three types of productivity are getting completely ignored today. And it is costing us so very much. So if you have a friend that you feel is running on fumes, or as Flat Out told you, I am running on fumes, I am exhausted. I want you to share this episode with them because chances are they are hyper-focused on only one type of productivity, because the majority of the world is, and they need to hear today's message about the importance of the other two. At its heart, the real fundamental issue is we have all, myself included, been taught to think about productivity as a one-dimensional thing, right? You either are being productive or you are not being productive. Meaning you are checking things off your list, right? To-dos are being done, stuff is happening with a clear result, or you're not doing it. So it's one or the other. You either are or you are not. But there are two other types of productivity here outside of just the traditional getting stuff done or not. And the problem is we as a society are only glorifying, praising, and getting excited about one definition of productivity, one type of productivity. So what is that first type? It's the one you all already know. It's what I call active productivity, right? This is the only one people are focusing on, right? It is getting stuff done. It is checking things off of your to-do list, right? Things that are visibly happening. And so if you are not doing those, you are either wasting time or being lazy, right? I know I still personally struggle with, and guys, I've been doing this work for a long time. I like a lot of downtime on the weekend and in the evenings. And there have been times on a Saturday afternoon when I'm watching a movie, right? Someone else would look at me and be like, you are not being productive, Megan. And I will hear like my husband walking in the house or something, and I'll feel like I need to get off the couch and be looking like I'm being, quote, productive. Not because he has a problem with me watching the movie, but this goes back to my childhood. It's lazy. Sitting around is lazy. So there's this active productivity. You're either being productive or you're not. And for most of the world, that is their only lens into productivity. But let's go ahead and talk now about the second of the three types of productivity. All right. The second type of productivity is the one that most people don't even count as being productive. And it's what I call passive productivity. And at its heart, what this means is it is when your subconscious, if you will, is doing actual cognitive productive work while your conscious mind might be thinking about or engaged in something else. All right, I'll give you some examples of what I'm talking about here. So what I mean is you're not actively trying to quote, be productive. You're not trying to solve the problem or figure the thing out. It's you've stepped away. You're doing something just for you, right? You're doing something that might look relaxing, but then the answer arrives in your head. And I'm sure you have all experienced this, right? A lot of times it happens for me when I'm in the shower. I'm in the shower washing my hair, getting ready for the day, whatever. Now, someone might call that quote productive because, oh, hey, you're getting ready. But you guys know what I mean when I when we talk about productivity, right? Nothing on my to-do list is happening while I'm getting dressed and ready for the day. But I can't tell you how many times something I've been thinking about the day before, the week before, all of a sudden clicks in my head and I'm like, oh my gosh, I know exactly what I want to do to make this thing better or to solve that problem, right? That's an example of passive productivity. Another one that I will do very intentionally is I may be working through a problem, like at my desk. All right, I'm trying to solve something, I'm trying to figure something out, and I feel like I am stuck. What I will often do in that situation is I will step away from the problem and intentionally say, my brain is done. I'm gonna go out for a 10 or 15 minute walk. And I maybe I put on music, maybe I don't listen to anything. But the whole point is I am no longer trying to solve that problem. And then all of a sudden, as you're, you know, wrapping up your walk, the idea comes to you. Right. Now that that was a very intentional passive productivity where I will intentionally say, I'm done. I'm walking away. But think about how many times in your own life you're doing a very low level task, right? Maybe you're cooking dinner, maybe you're driving, right? Maybe you're driving to school and back or to a kid's activity or back, maybe you're outside, yeah, you know, planting some flowers or something like that, something that is a very low cognitive load. And then all of a sudden, really powerful things come to mind, right? This is what I call passive productivity. And the reason why so many people miss out on this opportunity of passive productivity is because we are so hyper fixated and hyper-focused on checking the things off our list, right? So even if it might be something on your list, such as planting flowers, okay, you are thinking of it as here's another thing I've got to get done. And then what you might be doing is going, hey, while I'm planting those flowers, let me listen to that book on, you know, that audio book so that I can be even more productive. I can be learning while I'm doing this. Meaning your brain is always in output mode, right? And if we are always in output mode, what happens is we are missing out on that beautiful opportunity of anything coming in, right? The idea to come in, the thought to come in, the creative ways of thinking to come in. And so when we are only fixated on output, what happens is we end up oftentimes working even harder to solve problems, which means that we say we can stay stuck longer, right? Because the ideas that needed space and room to arrive never show up because you have not given them the space to do that. And this passive productivity is so incredibly important to think about and to honor right now, because with our technological devices, with audiobooks and podcasts and all of that, along with AI, along with adding AI in the mix, our cultural pressure right now is moving towards being always producing, always optimizing, always an output, right? What AI tool can you build that can be automating something for you while you're making your coffee? Right? What is the thing that you can, how can you leverage this piece of software so that you can multitask really efficiently? And so what I'm seeing subtly happen is this passive productivity is the first thing to go. And I believe it is absolutely critical for you to maintain creativity, your own critical thinking skills, your own problem solving skills. Now, the third type of productivity here, and as soon as I say it, you're probably gonna be like, well, that does that count as productivity? It absolutely does, and I'll explain why. This is what I call restorative productivity. Restorative productivity is not rest in like, oh, I'm chilling on the couch. All right, it is actual sleep. So passive productivity is when you are awake, but you're not in output mode. Restorative productivity is actually sleeping, real, meaningful sleep. Now, I know for a lot of really high-performing, high-achieving women out there, they focus on active productivity and they will focus on restorative productivity. I know a lot of people are wearing like aura rings or their smartwatches to track their sleep because they're really trying to work on optimizing their sleep because they know the importance of it. But again, think about that. Think of how much work that people are now trying to put into to make optimize their sleep. Where if we just go back to normal, let me just prioritize it, right? Meaning, let me get to bed at a reasonable time so that I can give my body the actual sleep that it needs. Now, why do I consider this a form of productivity? Well, I want to share with you a few things that go on in our brain that really only happens when we are sleeping. When we are sleeping, the brain literally kind of clears out waste products that build up during our waking hours. All right. So this is a chance for your brain to consolidate memory, look at everything you did during the day and file it into where it goes. This is your brain's chance to essentially, if you think of those like automated vacuums, those roombas, it's kind of roombaing around in your brain. And this is only happening when we're sleeping. And there is so many studies and so much data out there proving that your cognitive performance, your focus, your decision-making skills, and your emotional regulation all degrade significantly with sleep loss. All right. So let me repeat that again because it's worth hearing. When you do not get enough sleep, here's what happens your cognitive performance gets worse. Your focus gets worse. Your decision-making skills, you get tapped out on those and your emotional regulation, right? Sleep is what makes all of those things work for you. All right. So this is one of the reasons why I 100% prioritize my sleep. I do not sacrifice it. All right. I don't, I, I continue to get a minimum of eight hours a day on the weekends, nine to 10. All right. It is not an option for me to cut sleep when life gets busy, especially the older I've gotten. Right. I used to be able to pull off some magical stuff in my 20s. I'm sure those of you listening have as well. But now that I am in my 50s, I don't bounce back. I cannot function if I do not have a good night's sleep. And so I really want you to understand that sleep is not the opposite of productivity. All right. Sleep is a form of productivity. So I want you to really spend time helping rewire your own brain to understand that productivity isn't just the visible doing. It isn't just the checking off the list. It is the act of doing, but it is also the spacious not doing and the sleep that lets your brain function. That's why I talk about active, passive, and restorative productivity. And if you are only focusing on that first one, right, just the active to be more productive, you're missing out on the opportunity of all of those benefits of the passive and the restorative productivity. And this really hit me the other day when someone I know is, you know, very productive. One of the things that they were teaching, and it pained me, was now with all the technology, she is someone that has always gone on this morning walk. And it's kind of her time with nature, right? And for years, this morning walk was a quiet place for her to truly have passive productivity. Well, now she was sharing her tips and strategies on how she is taking her phone with her and is like basically dictating to her phone all of her thoughts and ideas to then be able to take it back and use AI tools to then create content for business, et cetera. Right. So what was previously a beautiful passive productivity window has now been turned in active productivity. And I'm seeing this subtly happen because this is what people are teaching, right? Okay, how can you take every minute of your day things that might historically have been passive productivity? And how can you now turn it into active productivity? So that the next time you're tempted to take that advice or to, you know, go like, oh yeah, let me let me start doing that as well. Pause and think about it. Are you now cutting off the last little bit of passive productivity that you had? This is why most mornings when I go out for my run or my walk, I'm listening to something that's either providing me joy and humor, or maybe I'm listening to music, or I'm not listening to anything at all. And I'm just letting my brain wander. So, my advice to you this week, my homework, if you will, is to find a pocket in every day that for 20 or 30 minutes you are consciously choosing to not be actively productive and then don't feel guilty about it because the gifts that come with passive productivity are magical. And second, try and just go to bed 15, 20 minutes earlier, right? Just one night even and see what happens. All right, I hope you have a great week and we'll see you back here next week. Getting on top of all things, time management, organization, and productivity doesn't have to stop just because this episode is over. If you are feeling overwhelmed, your calendar's out of control, or you're just running in a race that will never end in terms of your to-do list, I have great news for you. I have an app in both the App Store and Google Play called the Pink Bee. And it is chock full of small but incredibly powerful trainings to help you get out of overwhelm. It includes my signature Ditch the Overwhelm training and introduction to my time management framework built specifically for women. So open up either your App Store or Google Play, do a search on the word The Pink Bee, all one word, and download the app to get started today.