Busyness: A disastrous way to measure productivity

How productive are you? Perhaps not as easy a question to answer as it might first appear.

How to measure productivity in this day and age? It's difficult to know!

On production lines in factories, we can easily count the number of widgets produced every hour… a clear, objective measure.

In the modern world of knowledge work, however, productivity is much more difficult to define.

After reading Cal Newport’s latest book, I’ve begun to rethink the concept of productivity.

With knowledge work, busyness often seems to be used as a proxy for productivity. If I sit at my computer all day responding to emails or attend endless meetings I’m clearly busy but, am I productive?

It strikes me that being productive is important to our sense of competence, motivation, as well as our wellbeing. Productivity requires clear goals, effort, and planning. Without these core elements in place, our potential for productivity remains untapped.

What do you think? What does productivity look like in your context?