The Connect Magazine_Spring 2017

ESSAY/OPINION
WRITTEN BY: GRAHAM HONEYCUTT
WE LIVE IN a culture that tells us doing more
means having it all. But studies tell an entirely
different story.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics determined
that employee productivity has only grown an
unfortunate .3 percent over the past three years, yet we are working
longer hours than ever. The average work week has increased from 40
hours to 50 hours, in fact.
The key to productivity doesn’t lie in trying to do more and get
more done, but rather in doing less and getting the right things done.
“Hustle” is a buzz word, but what if it is a direct road to failure? We
cannot succeed in any area of our lives by working on only a few of
them. Compartmentalization is a myth. Therefore, we must realize that
how we do anything is how we do everything..
Productivity lies in spending considerable time in the short term
to bring more awareness to what is most important in one’s life, then
putting systems in place to execute these items. The most effective
tool I learned for this comes from Greg McKeown’s book entitled
“Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.”
The exercise is as follows: Take a seat, get still and list out every
time-consuming activity in your life. If you are married, do this with
your spouse. Once all items are listed, place a numerical value of
importance of one to 10 next to each. Once you have completed the
activity, physically cross out those activities with a value of eight or less.
Stop doing these activities.
The time has come to say no to all activities which are not part
of your highest point of contribution. If as you read these words you
feel a pit in your stomach or are thinking this task sounds far-fetched,
you likely need this message. Trust me; I heard those same voices and
had those same thoughts which enabled me to postpone doing the
exercise. However, once my wife and I completed this activity and
began eliminating the values of eight and below, our lives changed
dramatically.
We eliminated a vast number of time-consuming engagements
from our lives - including cable television, fantasy sports leagues, friend
gatherings, book clubs, church activities, among other things. We also
began evaluating new requests on our time and filtered it through our
revamped gauge of what we determined to be important. We thought
we would be disappointing other people by saying no gracefully. What
we found is that people began to have more respect for us when we
gave an honest “no,” rather than half-heartedly acquiescing out of a
feeling of obligation.
We learned to stop doing things out of mere obligation, and began
focusing on things that we love and deemed truly important. As a result,
our lives became exponentially better. The items we gave up were mere
distractions to the most important parts of our lives.
Our result has been incredible: We no longer feel like our lives are
spinning out of control, going from activity to activity.
The moral here is simple: Make time for what is most important
to you and let go of what isn’t. We often wear badges of busyness
like it is an honor. It doesn’t have to be. You have permission to
live differently - more fully, in fact. True productivity lies in doing
less and ensuring that the things you get done are what are most
important to you.
32 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SPRING 2017 THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM