Dealing with the unproductive people in your life

[Cpu_Modern]

I agree that GTD can benefit in stress reduction and efficiency, but why? To have more time to be human, relate, to have more patience and understanding for others, or to get *more* done, filling in this freed-up time and stress reduction with more stressful ambitious striving?

Why? It depends, doesn't it? If I am the nice guy with the funny jokes but the company goes bust because I entertained my colleagues into zero productivity in order to be more human and understanding, I may have destroyed more than I have helped. Some people depend on their jobs to feed their kids or give them a college education. It is important on a very practical, very human level to them that the company keeps going. Think about that for instance.

 

[Oogiem]

Unproductives Hold You Back in ALL Ways

Wow, "unproductives"?! What cold intolerance this labelling suggests! .... Your post gives me the strong impression that GTD and the drive to become ever more productive have turned you into a monster!

Today I was working on a project that really illustrates this in a very different way...

We are sorting sheep for slaughter. I am most definitely weeding out the "unproductives" in my life with this process and to some folks that does make me a monster. However, you can also look at it another way. The unproductive sheep are those that failed to rear lambs, have bad attitudes (we butcher based on bad behavior), have poor conformation or many other problems. By weeding them out I can focus my time, energy and efforts on the sheep that provide more for us. I can develop a more healthy, kinder, easier to handle and productive flock. In the long run this makes for both a happier shepherd and happier sheep. The "cold intolerance" of not accepting poor performers and unproductive sheep means I have one of the top performance flocks of sheep of my breed in all of North America!

To translate to humans, removing the unproductive people in your life can provide the space and time you need for you to enjoy those that remain. If you are a company, removing the unproductive workers and clients means you can do great work with and for the ones you keep. You cannot strive for great work or great compassion when you are dragged down by minutia. Unproductive people and practices cause such a drag that it can bring the entire system down to the lowest common denominator. I'd rather be labeled cold and intolerant if it also means that I am more compassionate and available for the things and people and projects that matter to me. GTD can help with that and a big part of it is figuring out how to eliminate or reduce the problems caused by interactions with people and companies who do not share your vision.

 

[Shiyin]

Why? It depends, doesn't it? If I am the nice guy with the funny jokes but the company goes bust because I entertained my colleagues into zero productivity in order to be more human and understanding, I may have destroyed more than I have helped. Some people depend on their jobs to feed their kids or give them a college education

Of course "it depends", and that example's just silly! That's a "straw man" argument: distorting what I said, taking it to an easy-to-tear-down extreme. Zero productivity? I'm not against productivity, just the increased stress striving for it may cause. I specifically had in mind what to do with the time saved by being more efficient. Using it to take a breath, de-stress and relax, think of fellow workers as human beings rather than further detach and distance oneself from them (e.g. as inferior "unproductives", seeing oneself as a "fast lane" hero). But that requires downgrading lofty ambition for humanity and life. Go for "stress-free productivity", by all means.

Go ahead and distort what I said (it's your loss), or try to see the point intended. I expect that my comments will either be given due consideration, or shallowly dismissed, but most likely the latter from those who need it most.