Why Productivity is a Key Marketing Topic

People rarely unsubscribe to this site. And I thank all of you that clicked on the link to the right and subscribed. But when they do unsubscribe, it’s always after a post on productivity.

My Story

Here is why I push productivity so hard. When I started my career, first with a real estate firm and then with a designer, I had trouble managing all the stuff. That stuff being papers, files, loose ends, etc. While I had proposals and other stuff filed, I also had many papers piled in drawers. With a system like that, it was hard to keep stuff from falling through the cracks.

Then one day, I walked into someone’s office. It was extremely organized and I expressed my envy. She told me she was, in fact, a mess. But she had just adopted this system called Getting Things Done. She had participated in a free Getting Things Done (GTD) class through Amazon.com. She said it had changed her life.

So, dipping a toe into the waters, I listened to the audio tape and incorporated some GTD into my work life. The results were pretty amazing. I went from being the guy with piles of paper in my drawers to the guy with a personal filing system. About a year later, I read the book and became the guy who was always asking, “what’s the next action?” and “what does done look like?” And I think that helped me and the people around me make better decisions.

That was close to 10 years ago. What I learned since is productivity is not about being organized. In fact, sometimes there will be papers everywhere and that’s OK when you are being creative. Ultimately, productivity is about getting the right thinks done.

When you are responsible for marketing, there are a million things you could be doing. One of the examples I always give is working on a Facebook page or sending out your message on a Twitter account. The challenge is figuring out the right thing to do at any given moment. It might be fun to make a Facebook page for your firm, but is that the most effective thing for you to be doing right now?

So you’ll often hear me harp on that topic, being effective.

Productivity is not just about getting things done. It is about getting the right things done in the most efficient manner. What I aim to do with my posts on productivity is to help you get to a place where you are more efficient and effective.