The best productivity advice you never hear

Logitech contacted me to do a sponsored post for them. The first thing I did was tell my kids.

My son said, “Why would such a cool company sponsor your blog?”

Logitech told me I could have any products I want, but they’d like me to pick products that help me with productivity.

It took me four days to go look at their site because I don’t have time. My workday is strictly triage. I have a to do list I never get done, and I pretty much only do emergencies.

This is the very worst way to manage your workload. Because emergencies are never big-picture, so I spend my days putting out fires instead of building a business, and then I panic when the business is not growing and I do crazy stuff to get money — like, I accepted a speech in Florida for $5,000 but I realized that with the three days away from the family working the whole time, I could have earned $5,000 from home much more easily.

The best productivity tools are ones that help you stay focused on your long-term goals. Which means that a blog is not a productivity tool so much as a hamster wheel, because I need to write every day just to maintain the status quo.

I opened the Logitech site and told the kids to pick what they want. Delegating. In the most broad sense of the word. But also, a long-term goal of mine is for the kids to see the value in my work. (Wait. Have I told you that the kids used to think my job was to be the cook? Yes. So I am vigilant now.) And the kids see the value when Logitech sends something to us.

The package arrives. My son pulls out a G910 keyboard. I don’t mention to him that he has a perfectly good keyboard on his computer and another perfectly good one in his desk drawer. Who am I to be a buzz kill?

He jumps up and down and high fives the air. He plugs in the keyboard and it lights up in five colors and he does a whip and a ne-ne and a few dabs and he’s thrilled.

He obsesses over the nonstick pads and the extra keys. The wrist guard is extra high so he can switch keys faster. He plays all day long with his fast new set up. He pauses periodically to tell me how happy he is with his keyboard.

I get more work done than I have all month because he’s happy, and engaged and learning how to program his keys to go faster and faster in CS:Go.

Lately the research I’m thinking about when I worry my kids have too much screen time is the research about play: because it’s a very effective way to learn.

I used to worry about the kids playing video games too much, but at this point, video games are an essential part of my career plan and my homeschooling plan. I console myself each day with how important play is — playing what the kids want to play. But now I just found that the way kids become nut jobs is NOT being able to play how they want, so beware all you smug parents who limit screen time.

I’ve long been unimpressed with the world of productivity mavens. They all seem to be men with no kids. And what I’ve learned about productivity is the only way you can really feel productive after you have kids is to cross pretty much everything in your whole universe off your to do list because it’s not going to get done. Feeling productive is a mindset you have after you admit to yourself that you won’t be doing the dream life you envisioned.

And productivity snowballs. You get in the rhythm of making good decisions and then you make more. This research comes from Richard Easterlin but also from me. Because I got headphones from Logitech. And when they came, I was excited to exercise. Good headphones are fun to wear.  And for a homeschooling mom, I’m pretty sure there are only three things on a to-do list:

• Keep kids engaged
• Make sure there’s money
• Stay sane

And God bless Logitech: they helped me do all three.