Every once in a while, I’ll look back on a day and think wow, today wasn’t very productive. I reach these conclusions in a purely subjective manner – no analysis involved, just some basic reflection and a little bit of additional thinking do the trick.
On one such day - perhaps hoping to do something useful and therefore salvage what I would otherwise conclude was an unproductive day - I decided to try and bring some advanced insight into my productivity measurements. I spent some time thinking about good metrics to use. One thought was to write out a list of things I know are productive – doing a job interview, reading a book, going for a run – and assigning myself points based on a 'productivity measurement' scoring system. Or, perhaps I could set some productivity goals for myself at the start of each day and measure my progress against those.
As I continued to come up with other equally useless possibilities, I realized something important: I don’t really do many unproductive things. For the most part, I wake up and get going on something useful almost right away. I don’t get involved with video games, I don’t eat sugary cereals, and I don’t go out to buy a five-dollar latte. If I’m awake, I’m usually doing something I would consider productive - writing, cooking, stretching, and so on.
So, if I don't do unproductive things, I must always be doing something productive. But then how could I ever look back on a day and conclude it was unproductive? If I earn more money than I spend every single day, my savings account can’t possibly shrink, right?
I spent some time trying to figure this one out before I got it: on the days I felt unproductive, I simply woke up later than on the days I felt productive. It left me with a very simple metric to use for measuring my productivity - the time I woke up.
