The "E"s in Healthy Productivity

There are four main Es in the concept of healthy productivity.

Effectiveness

Efficiency

Ecosystem

Essence

Productivity is defined through the adjective as: pro·duc·tive | \ prə-ˈdək-tiv  , prō- \

which means more or less:

-having the quality or power of producing especially in abundance

-yielding results, benefits, or profits

Therefore, the base definition of productivity is about getting things done in abundance that are also seen to be very effective.

But I couldn't spend all day doing things to be wholly effective. In our work obsessed culture, you have a limited amount of time to yield results.

Therefore I had to be efficient.

So a better understanding of productivity is:

producing high quality output effectively and efficiently.

Productivity is about optimal effectiveness and efficiency at its most base definition.

I think it is easy to fetishize productivity. Something about it feels good, even when I didn't have any well-defined purpose in my life.

As I got more productive, I noticed a problem.

While I was naturally obsessed with productivity, I very naturally also sacrificed my physical, mental, and spiritual health in order to achieve my supposed desires.

As I have gotten more purpose in my life, productivity brings a lot more satisfaction when I have viewed it holistically.

As the ultimate productivity guru David Allen discusses, productivity is about self-leadership. It is more than just being efficient and effective - it's about interacting with your environment in the most optimal way.

I now understand that productivity is about improving your interactive skills within your particular ecosystem so that you are more empathetic and in tune with your body and surroundings.

I personally cannot see productivity as something beneficial if it is not healthy.

When anything in your life is calling you to do more with less, it seems like a worthy challenge. But it's actually pretty unhealthy.

You might be pulling off heroics. But something doesn't feel right.

It's probably the fact that you haven't been Sleeping, Exercising, or Prioritizing your True Desires instead of the ones that have been manufactured for you by society, your childhood, and others' expectations.

Healthy productivity is all about hitting the right proportion of effectiveness and efficiency in your ecosystem while not sacrificing the very essence of you through the process.  

Another core concept of your essence includes your value system, which is deeply individual.

Productivity is not busyness. It is getting all the things done that pertain to your specific values, allowing you to reach your highest and best use and obtain fulfillment.

Then the first question is not what do you need to get done. It's what are your values?