A Simple Strategy to Make Every Day Productive

If you’re like me, you have some days when you’re the queen of your life and get forty-three things done before lunch … and others where changing out of your pajamas is the day’s biggest achievement.

This is one of the many reasons I love listening to business-oriented podcasts. You can pick up gems of wisdom and inspiration — and yea, even practical tips for productivity — from successful business people, even if they operate in a totally different realm than you.

Recently I came across a shiny, new-to-me tidbit while listening to business guru Marie Forleo speak about gaining clarity in this interview with Amy Porterfield.

Marie said something in passing that I’d never heard before and fortunately, Amy asked her to elaborate. Marie’s explanation was the wellspring for this post.

Here’s Marie’s tip: “Always produce before you consume.”

That’s her strategy for making sure she’s productive every day. She produces content before consuming any, meaning she’ll write a newsletter or a video script before listening to a podcast or checking email or going on Facebook or doing any other time-suck-y thing that falls under the heading of passively consuming content.

Always produce before you consume can be rephrased as “activity before idleness” and can be helpful in all sorts of arenas, not just online marketing.

If you’re a homemaker, for example, producing before you consume means starting the day by doing a task instead of reading the paper. The task is the “producing,” while reading the paper is just a combination of consuming information and idle entertainment.

Thus, the task needs to get done first. Reading the paper comes later.

If you follow the strategy of actively producing something before you consume anything every single day, you WILL get things done.

Heck, you might even run out of things to do.

It’s a simple idea, but I’ll be the first to admit it can be hard to implement. And like most truly useful advice, its value lies in implementation. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t work.

Here’s where I personally struggle with this excellent strategy. One thing I enjoy is listening to the news on NPR first thing in the morning, when I’m still lying in bed. It’s a habit, and not a great one for productivity; I’m starting my day consuming instead of producing.

By the time I’m all news’d up and finally get out of bed, I’m in a consuming, rather than producing, frame of mind.

I keep hearing everywhere that how you start your day is crucial to long-term success, so I’m pledging right now to listen to the news ONLY after I’ve done something I want to get done each day.

It might be doing the dishes that were left over from the night before.

It could be writing a blog post like this one.

It may be making a phone call, working out, cooking up a batch of chili, etc., etc., etc.

What do you want (or need) to “produce” ASAP?

Write it down before you go to bed, then start it tomorrow before you read, scan, check or listen to anything. I’ll do the same, and we’ll both get stuff done tomorrow.

Next stop: Making a habit of doing that every single day.

A big thanks to Marie Forleo for this gold nugget, and to Amy Porterfield for her wonderful podcast.