Productivity Is Dead. Long Live Getting Stuff Done.

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Here's the thing about productivity that nobody wants to admit: most of it is complete bollocks.

I've been consulting for businesses across Australia for nearly two decades now, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that 73% of productivity advice will make you less productive. Not more. Less. And yet every second LinkedIn post is some executive rabbiting on about their morning routine like they've discovered the bloody Rosetta Stone of efficiency.

Look, I get it. We're all drowning in tasks, meetings that could've been emails, and that one colleague who CC's the entire company on their lunch order confirmations. But here's what I learned the hard way: productivity isn't about doing more things. It's about doing the right things and not feeling guilty about the rest.

The Morning Routine Myth

Let me tell you about my mate Steve from Perth. Steve read every productivity book known to mankind. He had a 5am wake-up call, meditation, cold shower, green smoothie, journal writing – the whole nine yards. Beautiful system. Took him three hours to complete his morning routine.

By 8am, he was already behind schedule.

Steve's problem wasn't discipline. His problem was that he'd turned productivity into performance art. All style, no substance. These days, Steve rolls out of bed at 7:30am, has a coffee, checks his phone (yes, I said it), and gets on with his day. He's never been more effective.

The truth about morning routines? If you're not a morning person, forcing yourself to become one is like trying to teach a fish to climb a tree. Sure, it's technically possible, but why would you torture yourself when you could just swim?

The Myth of Multitasking

Here's an unpopular opinion: multitasking is brilliant. Before you grab your pitchforks, hear me out.

Yes, the research says multitasking is bad. Task-switching reduces efficiency by up to 40%, they tell us. But here's what the researchers aren't telling you: sometimes you need that 40% inefficiency.

I'm thinking of Sarah, a project manager in Adelaide who runs three concurrent projects. Her stress reduction techniques involve strategic multitasking – answering quick emails while waiting for reports to load, reviewing documents during conference calls where she's not presenting, checking project updates while her coffee brews.

Is it optimal? Hell no. Does it work for her chaotic reality? Absolutely.

The key is knowing when to multitask and when to focus. Administrative busywork? Multitask away. Creative problem-solving? Put the phone in another room and lock the door.

The To-Do List Trap

We need to talk about to-do lists. I see grown professionals walking around with 47-item daily lists like they're training for some sort of productivity Olympics. Mate, if your daily list has more than seven items on it, you're not being productive – you're being delusional.

Here's my controversial take: most of your to-do list is garbage.

Try this experiment. Write down everything you think you need to do today. Now circle the three things that, if you didn't do them, would actually matter in a week's time. Everything else? That's just busy work dressed up as importance.

I learned this lesson the hard way during a particularly brutal quarter in 2019. I was juggling client presentations, staff reviews, quarterly reports, and somehow convinced myself that reorganising my email folders was "essential productivity maintenance."

Spoiler alert: it wasn't.

The clients who got my full attention that quarter? They renewed their contracts and referred three new businesses. The perfectly organised email folders? Nobody cared. Not even me.

Technology: Helper or Hindrance?

Let's address the elephant in the room: productivity apps. If you've got more than three productivity apps on your phone, you've become a productivity hobbyist, not a productive person.

I was at a networking event in Melbourne last year (remember those?), and this bloke was showing me his setup. Notion for project management, Todoist for tasks, Toggl for time tracking, Forest for focus, Evernote for notes, Slack for communication, and something called "Brain.fm" for background noise. He spent 20 minutes explaining his system.

I asked him how his business was going. "Oh, I'm a bit behind on everything at the moment."

Of course you are, mate. You're spending more time managing your productivity system than actually being productive.

Here's what actually works: pick one system and stick with it. I don't care if it's a notebook, your phone's basic reminders app, or sticky notes on your monitor. The best system is the one you'll actually use consistently.

The Deep Work Delusion

Deep work is the current darling of productivity gurus. Four hours of uninterrupted, flow-state, phone-in-a-sealed-box productivity nirvana. And yes, it's fantastic when you can get it.

But here's the reality check: most of us don't have four uninterrupted hours. We've got kids, bosses, clients, and that delivery driver who always shows up at exactly the wrong moment.

Instead of chasing the deep work unicorn, try "decent work." Twenty minutes of focused effort. Forty minutes if you're lucky. String enough of these together, and you'll be amazed what you can accomplish.

I've written entire proposals in 15-minute chunks between meetings. Not because it's ideal, but because it's real. Perfect is the enemy of done, and done is what pays the bills.

The Perfectionism Problem

Speaking of perfect being the enemy of done, let's talk about perfectionism. I see this constantly in my consulting work – brilliant people paralysed by the need to get everything exactly right.

News flash: your first draft doesn't need to win a Pulitzer Prize. Your presentation doesn't need to revolutionise the industry. Your email doesn't need to be a masterpiece of professional communication.

Sometimes good enough really is good enough.

I had a client who spent three weeks perfecting a simple budget report. Three weeks! By the time she finished, the numbers were already outdated and the deadline had passed. Her perfectly formatted failure was less useful than my hastily scribbled napkin calculations from our coffee meeting.

Quality matters, but so does timing. A mediocre solution delivered on time beats a perfect solution delivered late every single time.

The Meeting Monster

Here's where I might lose some of you: not every meeting is evil. Some meetings are actually productive. I know, I know. Controversial stuff.

The trick is knowing which meetings deserve your presence and which ones deserve your polite decline. If you can't explain why you need to be in that meeting in one sentence, you probably don't need to be there.

I've started asking one simple question before accepting any meeting invitation: "What specific decision are we making, and why do you need my input?" If the organiser can't answer that clearly, I'm not going.

This has freed up roughly six hours per week. Six hours! That's enough time to actually think about strategy instead of just talking about thinking about strategy.

The Energy Management Revolution

Here's something nobody talks about: managing your energy is more important than managing your time. You can block out four hours for important work, but if you're mentally exhausted, those four hours will be as useful as a chocolate teapot.

I'm naturally more creative in the morning and better at administrative tasks in the afternoon. Took me years to figure this out because I was too busy following everyone else's productivity advice to pay attention to my own patterns.

Now I protect my morning creativity like a jealous dragon guarding treasure. Emotional intelligence isn't just about understanding others – it's about understanding yourself well enough to know when you're operating at peak efficiency.

Creative work happens before 10am. Meetings happen after 2pm. Email gets answered whenever I feel like it, which is usually never.

The Guilt-Free Zone

Let me share something that might shock you: I don't check email first thing in the morning. Or last thing at night. Sometimes I don't check it for entire days.

The world hasn't ended. My business hasn't collapsed. Clients haven't fled in horror.

We've created this culture where being constantly available is somehow badge of honour. It's not. It's a fast track to burnout and mediocrity.

Your phone doesn't need to be within arm's reach 24/7. Your email doesn't need to be answered within 30 seconds. That Slack notification can wait until you're ready to deal with it.

Boundaries aren't selfish – they're essential. You can't pour from an empty cup, as my grandmother used to say (usually while pouring herself a generous gin).

What Actually Works

After nearly twenty years of trial and error, here's what I've learned actually moves the needle:

Start with your energy, not your time. Schedule your most important work when you're naturally at your best. For me, that's mornings. For you, it might be after everyone else goes to bed.

Batch similar tasks. Answer all your emails at once. Make all your phone calls in one session. Don't bounce between different types of work like a caffeinated ping-pong ball.

Learn to say no beautifully. "I'd love to help, but I'm not the right person for this" works better than "I'm too busy." Everyone's busy. Not everyone is honest about their limitations.

Embrace good enough. That report doesn't need 47 revisions. That email doesn't need to be poetry. Sometimes done is better than perfect.

Protect your maker time. Block out chunks of time for actual work, not just meetings about work. Treat these blocks as sacred as you would a meeting with your biggest client.

The Bottom Line

Productivity isn't about grinding harder or optimising every minute of your day. It's about being intentional with your energy and honest about what actually matters.

Stop trying to hack your way to some mythical state of peak performance. Start paying attention to what actually works for you, not what works for some Silicon Valley executive with a personal assistant and a meditation app.

The best productivity system is the one that helps you sleep better at night, not the one that helps you brag about your 4am wake-up time.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to close my laptop and go for a walk. Not because it's optimised for productivity, but because it's a beautiful day and life's too short to spend it all staring at screens.

That's productive enough for me.