12. Are Your Productivity Systems Broken?
Episode 12
Are your productivity systems working for you? Or do they need a tuneup?
Our productivity systems include task management, time management, and organization – just to name a few. When even one of these systems is off, we don’t operate at our peak levels.
It’s one thing to fix these systems, but it’s a whole other thing to know that they’re broken in the first place. In this week’s episode of the Learn and Work Smarter podcast, I teach you:
✅ how to evaluate if your systems are working or not.
✅ the classic signs that one of your key systems needs some tweaking
✅ practical strategies for how to fix what’s broken,
✅ how to get your hands on two valuable (free) resources to find out for sure if your productivity systems are on point or not
💻PODCAST EPISODE WEBSITE → (for more details and a full transcript)
Other Episodes Mentioned:
→ Episode 9: The Three Most Important Areas to Organize
Free Resources:
Student Self-Evaluation Checklist → (Download Free PDF)
Professional Self-Evaluation Checklist (Download Free PDF)
✏️ Enroll in SchoolHabits University→ The Ultimate School Habits and Study Skills Course
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The following transcript was autogenerated and may contain some interesting and silly errors. But in the name of efficiency and productivity, I am choosing not to spend my time fixing them. :)
The 6 Most Important Skills for School and Work
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12 Are Your Systems Broken?
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[00:00:00] If you ever want to improve anything, two things have to happen. First one, you have to recognize and admit that something is not working.
And then two, you have to be willing to make a change. Now, some people really struggle with the first one admitting and recognizing that something is not working. And if you can't get past this barrier, then true improvement in any context is nearly impossible.
Now an example of someone who can't admit or recognize that there is a problem that needs improvement might be the student who blames the teacher for not teaching the material well, when the reality is that that student just doesn't have good solid study habits and study skills.
Or it could be the employee who just always feels like things aren't fair and that their job is too hard and that the boss just gives them too much work to do all the time. Right. But in reality, they just don't have good productivity. Task time management skills and I in [00:01:00] general, like good operating systems to do their job.
Now, if you are listening to this podcast episode, then that probably means that you have already overcome barrier.
Number one.
You might have chosen this episode because you already know that you have something in your work or, you know, academic life that needs improving. Okay. And that is awesome. And that is important. And that means that you are in the right spot.
Now in today's episode, we are going to explore a fundamental aspect of self-improvement, which is recognizing when our productivity and work systems could use a tune-up. And of course, I'm going to show you exactly how to do that.
[00:02:00]
Okay. So I know that I already gave you credit for being here, making the assumption that you already know your systems aren't as efficient as they need to be. But I still want to begin with a quick list of signs that your systems are holding you back and could be improved, just in case you're just wondering, and you're at the brink of overcoming barrier number one. Okay.
So in just a sec, I'm going to give you three telltale signs that your systems could use some improvement.
But before I do that, I want to make sure that we are on the same page with what I mean by system.
Whether you're a student or a professional, we rely on a group of systems, a cluster of systems, to function in school, or work. Now, of course these systems vary depending on your circumstance, um, and the level you're at.
Okay. But in general, the systems that I'm referring to in today's episode are [00:03:00] the way you manage your time, the way you manage your tasks and the way you organize information.
So that's time management, task management. and organization, which includes how you organize information, files, assets, uh, materials, resources. Okay. All of that. And those three systems have the potential to make or break how you function day to day.
In other words, when these three systems are dialed in and what they need to be, then you just operate at a higher level. And of course, what we're all looking for, without as much stress.
Okay. So now that we have a joint understanding of what I mean by systems, let's move on to the top three signs that are truly indicative, that one or more of your systems could use a little help.
Okay. Sign number one.
And this is probably the most common sign: you're overwhelmed.
So feeling stress and overwhelm is probably one of the most [00:04:00] noticeable and ignorable. I think that's the word. Signs that some, or maybe just even just one of your systems. Okay. Whether that's task management or time management and organization. Isn't working for you. Okay.
Sign number two is that you're getting negative feedback.
Now, if you were a student negative feedback could come in the form of grades like bad grades or comments from teachers and professors.
If you're a working professional, then negative feedback comes in the form of poor performance reviews. Or of course that could even be like direct feedback from a manager or a boss, not in the form of like a formal performance review, but just, you know, in, in conversation.
This negative feedback could be about the quality of work you're turning in, deadlines you're not making, um, the way that you're communicating or perhaps not communicating with others. Okay. Negative feedback could, could come in many forms.
Now, negative feedback could be about any aspect of your job.
Right. And I'm going [00:05:00] to talk about that a little bit later in the episode. But the type of feedback that you get is often related to the system that needs fixing.
And the third sign that one or more of your systems need some tweaking is that it feels like you are missing something. It feels like everyone else knows something, but something is off with you. It feels like others know a secret that we don't know. And this is not a feeling that you want to ignore.
Now, this third sign is a little bit more abstract than the others, because it's like, you can't quite put your finger on it.
It's not like, oh, I got obvious negative feedback from my boss. Therefore I know that, you know, something is on, but this is more like an intuitive sense that things could be better. An intuitive sense that you want something different and you're not quite sure how to get there and intuitive sense that, you know, People have there. Ish together and you [00:06:00] quite don't. And that's not to say that you don't, you can be super high functioning in any other area of your life, but, but like let's say in your, in your private life and your home life, but at work, you don't have an equivalent system that functions for you well in your private life and in your work life, it's not like you don't have your life together.
Okay. I'm just saying that this is all in the context of systems.
All right. So again, the three signs that at least one of your systems isn't as efficient as it needs to be is that you are overwhelmed, you are getting negative feedback and you just feel like you're missing something or that something is off or isn't quite right.
Okay. So now it's time to move on to the stuff that I think you are here for, which is how to actually fix our systems.
Now, what do we do once we are in a healthy, mature place of saying, yes, what I'm doing here, isn't working and something needs to change.
So I'm going to start with a simple one. And I'm not saying it's easy; I am saying it is simple.
And that would be [00:07:00] to take a look at your tools. All right. So look at the things in your day-to-day, toolbox that you use to get your work done. The tools that we use should help us stay organized and focused and efficient. And if they don't, then that's an area that we could improve upon.
So, what do I mean by tools?
Let's take an easy one for an example, your calendar. Okay. That's just an example of a tool.
Let's say that you've been using Google calendar and it's all color-coded and it's pretty, and you use it for a good solid few weeks, but then you fell off the bandwagon and now you are not using a calendar at all. And you're forgetting deadlines and dates and it is stressing you out.
Now what could be that, that particular tool, Google calendar isn't working for you.
Which means that it's compromising your time management system. Does that make sense?
Maybe despite the allure and the convenience of a digital calendar, you're actually a paper calendar planner type person like me.
Maybe your digital calendar has too much friction for you, at least in the way that [00:08:00] you currently have it set up.
Maybe you get too annoyed subconsciously every time you have to open your Google calendar and click on this and click on that, just to add a task.
And now you're not using at all.
Now the solution here to fix that system would be to find another tool.
Get a paper planner go old school, go analog.
All right. But if you don't make a change, then things will stay the same. And again, chances are you're listening to this episode because you don't want things to say the same.
You want things to get better. Okay. For things to get better, you have to do something different.
Now another example could be that you've been lately lying in bed at night, constantly wondering if you've missing something. You know, that feeling like you just, you can't shut your eyes because you're like, wait, did I forget to do this? Did I turn in this thing? Was that deadline? Did I follow up with that person? Right. Like I know, you know what I'm talking about.
Well then maybe your task management tool needs an upgrade.
So maybe that's the system that's broken.
Maybe you don't even have a task management system. What? Not you! Okay. Or maybe you're using one that just isn't working for you.
[00:09:00] Maybe what you're using is too complicated.
Maybe it's not robust enough.
Maybe you're using a paper planner and you haven't accepted the fact that your paper planner is so annoying because the binding doesn't lie flat and it's so annoying to write in and it doesn't even stay open. Uh, I'm speaking to myself from a past self here.
Get a new paper planner already. Do something different.
So maybe your company has everyone in the company using a company-wide software program. And you don't like it. And maybe the software program is like a, a project management tool. All right. And for whatever reason, you just don't like it, so you're not using it. Hey, what can you do about that?
Can you talk to your boss?
Can you use it only minimally? And then, maybe can you just totally use another system?
Do you not actually like it, cause you don't know how to use it? Then figure out how to use it. Find a tutorial. Right?
These are questions that you have to ask yourself as you evaluate your tools. If you don't ask yourself these questions and [00:10:00] you will not know exactly what part of your system needs fixing.
Okay, before we move on to the next strategy, I do want to let you know that I have something for you that will help you with this whole self-evaluation process.
I have created two separate self-assessment checklists.
They're well, they're more like quizzes. They can help you identify where your systems could use some improvement.
One of the self-assessments is specifically for students and the other is for working professionals. I'm going to leave links for both of those in the show notes if you're listening to this and as a podcast, as well as the description box, if you are watching this on YouTube. They're both free PDF downloads.
And they're going to guide you through the whole process of like the questions that you need to ask yourself so that you can take action on the things that you are learning today.
And each of the self-assessments helps you identify which system is not quite right. Okay. So if you're like, I don't even know where to start, start with the free self-assessment checklists.
Okay. So back to the next strategy I [00:11:00] have for you, which has to do with organization.
Now in episode 9, I think it's called the three most important areas to organize I -think so it's definitely episode nine. I do know that and I will leave that link in the show notes as well. I dive really deeply into organization strategies and what that looks like for school and work.
I'm not going to dive as deep into organization strategies now, as I do in that episode, - like I said, I'll leave a link in the description box, um, and the, in the show notes, but a really important point that I made in that podcast is that there are two signs that your organization system is sufficient and effective. So in other words, it's, it's working for you.
Number one, you know what to do with something when it comes in something like an email or a piece of paper or a piece of information, a digital file, a folder, something similar, and you know exactly where to put it.
And sign number two, is that when you need something again? Uh, file a resource in email, um, a piece of paper. It could be something digital, [00:12:00] okay. That you know exactly where to go to get it.
So when something comes in, you know where to put it and when you need something, you know where to go to get it.
If those two things are in place, that means your organization system is great.
Now, if you don't know where to put things and you're wondering, oh, could it go here or could it go here?
It can go in both places, right? Or if you don't know where to find things when you need them, whether it's digital or analog, then that means that your organization system needs a tune-up.
Again, I give you really practical strategies in episode nine.
Okay, but I do want to give you another strategy that has to do with the first sign that your systems aren't working.
And if you remember that was that you are feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. Okay.
Now, I said this earlier that a classic sign that something needs to change is that you are regularly overwhelmed at school or at work, or just with the things that you are responsible for, that people are asking you for.
So the strategy here is to step back and to really think about what [00:13:00] exactly is stressing you out.
Now, hold up because this might seem like a, um, like a really vague strategy, but it's not, at least in the, not in the way that I'm going to try to explain it to you. Okay.
Sometimes just for whatever reason we feel stress and, and, you know, I might be speaking for myself here because sometimes I do deal with anxiety and I don't always know what is causing it, but in particular, right.
If it's, sometimes it's not always just something very specific, it's just that like this generalized feeling of like, ah, But I know that if I hold on and if I continue to do the things that I need to do while I feel anxious then for me, I'm only speaking for myself- then it passes.
But I'm not talking about that type of anxiety here with the type that you're like, wait, I don't even know what's causing it.
I'm talking about the type of anxiety that you're like: this thing is making me nervous. This class, this project, this person, this assignment, this. Um, job description, this [00:14:00] meeting, this whatever, fill in the blank, but you can usually fill it in with something.
And only you can identify that for yourself.
Now my challenge to you is to try to identify exactly what is causing that type of stress for you in school or in work.
Only when you do that, can you make an adjustment that that's actually relevant to the problem? Right. So let's look at some examples because I think that makes everything easier.
So let's say you're a student and your physics class is your worst class and it's stressing you out and you hate going to it. Your grade is low, and you don't understand the material. And the upcoming test is making you lose, lose sleep. Okay. So that's a start - to identify that physics is stressing you out.
But let's go further so that we can actually find a solution that will work.
WHAT about physics is stressing you out? Okay. Is it that one particular unit, is it that you don't know how to study for that type of science-y content?
Is it that you don't have a good organization [00:15:00] system for your physics materials? So you never know where your things are, which means that you can't find them when you need them?
Do you not know how to take notes? Which means that you're wasting your time writing down random things and your notes are not actually ever helpful for you?
Okay. So see, when we take some time to figure out what exactly is stressing us out about the thing that is stressing us out, then we can come up with a solution.
So going back to physics for a second, let's say that after a few minutes of really thinking about it, I'm thinking about what about the thing that's stressing you out is really stressing you out.
Okay. It occurs to you that it's the tests. Okay. That's it. It's not walking into class. It's not the professor. It's the test. And let's say that, you know, after a few more minutes of thinking why are tests stressful? You're like, well, cause I don't do well on them.
Why do you not do well on them? Because let's say you just don't know how to study. Cause right, they don't teach you how to study in school. Unfortunately. Okay.
So now you have identified the exact thing about the thing that the exact thing that's stressing [00:16:00] you out about the thing that's stressing you out. Okay.
And then let's also say that you not knowing how to study, obviously, you know, you don't have study methods that work- um, is also perhaps related to the fact that you don't have good notes and you don't have good notes to study from because you've never been taught how to take notes.
Well, of course, those two things put together, not knowing how to take notes, so you don't have good notes to study from, and then not knowing how to study: of course, that's going to stress you out.
So the solution would be to learn note-taking strategies and study strategies. Okay. That is your answer. So in that case, your organization system, which I would call your notes, right? You're organizing your information and your task management system are broken. And you fix it by learning how to take better notes and to organize them.
And you learn how to manage your tasks, which would be the how to study piece. Right.
Now let's look at a similar example, but in a professional work context.
Let's say that you have a report due every two weeks and that really stresses you out and you dread it all week long, like the week leading up [00:17:00] to the week that it's due.
Right. And because you're dreading it, you procrastinate on it. Which of course means that you're getting even more and more stressed about it, because procrastination, it doesn't work. In case. In case you didn't get the memo. Okay.
So let's dig into, what's really stressing you out about the report.
Because it's not enough just to say they'll report is stressful. Just like you can't just say physics is stressful.
What exactly is stressing you out about the thing that is stressing you out?
You’ve got to go one level deeper.
Is it that your organizational system is weak and you can't find the data and the information you need to write your report every few weeks?
Right? I don't know. Maybe you don't have clarity on the steps to write the actual port and every few weeks, you kind of forget when you did the week before. And so you have to try to remember it and you're kind of like reinventing the wheel every week.
Well, then maybe what you need to do is write yourself an SOP, a standard operating procedure, like a checklist that you can follow every single time you go to write the report so that you're not like, wait, what's my first step, what's my second step.
You can make an [00:18:00] SOP. You can put links inside of it. So you're like, oh, go here, go here, go here. Right. We would call that task management.
So you thinking that a report is stressful could actually be that you don't have a good task management system and you never would have arrived at that conclusion if you hadn't sat for a minute and thought about what about the thing that's stressing you out is stressing you out. Does this make sense?
Going back to our report just for a second, like, let's say that the thing that's stressing about is that it's really time-consuming. Okay. Maybe that's really stressful because you have a lot of other things going on in work and life.
Maybe you need to try time-blocking so that you're able to complete the report in time. That would be an improvement to your time management system.
Maybe you need to try something like the power hour.
Maybe you need to get back into, um, a calendar system that works for you.
Honestly, if you haven't tried time-blocking for like really, really busy days then I suggest you do try that.
You see, when we feel overwhelmed about work [00:19:00] and school, that is a signal. And that is not a signal that we want to ignore. That is a strong signal that one of your systems isn't working.
So, what do you do? That means you take some time, put it in your calendar.
Take some time to sit and to think and to figure out what exactly is making you feel overwhelmed about the thing that's making you feel overwhelmed.
I feel like I've said that expression like 97 times in this episode so far, but it's really, really important.
All right. Now I want to go over a list of questions that are typically involved in a self-assessment because truthfully, the topic of this episode is how to know if your personal academic or work operating systems are adequate. And if they're not, what to do about it, right?
So to help you initiate the whole process of thinking about your systems and evaluating them and improving them, I'm going to give you a list. Uh, general list of questions that you can use to just start somewhere.
You know, some of these questions you're going to find on the self-assessment checklist.
Again, those are the free PDFs, [00:20:00] this one for students and one for working professionals.
And they're linked in the show notes in the description box- whereever.
Some of these questions I pulled from the checklists, but some of them are just more general than what you're going to find there, but I just kind of want to whet your appetite for what self-assessment thinking looks like.
All right.
So here we go.
Do I dread going to school or to work?
Do I lay in bed at night, thinking about what I have to do the next day?
Do I wish I had more time to get things done?
Do I procrastinate?
Do I meet deadlines or not?
Am I getting positive or negative feedback from teachers or managers?
Do I feel like I have too much work to do?
Do I feel like I not feel, but do I know where I spend my time? Like really spend my time.
Can I find things when I need them?
Is my email management under control or does my inbox stress me [00:21:00] out?
Am I confused about what it is that I'm supposed to do a task, a project an assignment my job description?
Okay. Is my digital organization system helpful to me?
Do I feel like everyone else around me knows what they're doing? And I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't?
Do I have a way to keep track of projects and tasks I'm working on?
Does my work or study space work for me and inspire me? Does it support my focus?
Do I keep promises to myself and others?
Or am I unreliable because I somehow always manage to drop the ball?
Okay. No, you don't have to use these exact same questions, but they are a good place to start. And then obviously grab the self-assessment checklist.
And what's different about the self-assessment checklists is they help you figure out which areas are strong in and which of your systems need some improvement.
Okay. So my friends that brings us to the end of today's episode, which I hope you found helpful.
My intention with this episode isn't to [00:22:00] get you to be critical of yourself or to compare yourself to others. But my intention is to encourage self-evaluation and self-improvement because if we're not improving, we're staying the same.
And if we are staying the same, that means we are never moving forward.
And without my friends, I leave you with my best piece of advice, which is to never stop learning.
