Work to publish, not finish! (Truth about productivity as shared by experts)

I have published only 16 posts on this blog, excluding this one. 10 in 2018. 4 in 2019. And, only 2 in 2020. I'm doing an abysmal job at keeping this blog alive. I want to change this. I want to be more productive. And write more. That's why I'm here today to write about productivity and what I have learned so far from other creators. 

Photo by Minh Pham on Unsplash

Do I have any valid reasons for not writing here? Yes. How about my partner getting COVID-19 and the crippling anxiety that still follows me like a shadow every single day since he got sick? But this only applies to 2020. What happened in 2018 and 2019? Well, let's keep that for another day.

Did I make any excuses? Oh yes, many! There's no dearth of that. Like, no one reads this blog so why should I care. I don't have the time. I'm busy writing blog-posts for my clients. But the biggest excuse was - I want to publish only when I have the perfect post. The result? Refer to the intro. 

Jack Conte - co-founder of Patreon and singer-songwriter addressed this in 'How to increase productivity' video he uploaded recently on his YouTube channel. The title of this blog-post is from the very same video. 

While explaining the difference between finishing a sports match (that comes with finality - you either win or lose or there's a draw) vs finishing a song (a creative process), Conte says, ".. Finishing a song doesn't feel like FINISHING at all. Publishing is not finishing... Publishing is deciding to stop when you want to keep working. And it is super painful." 

A light bulb went off in my head when I heard that. People who get a lot of work done, be it books, comics, podcasts, blogposts or songs, have the ability to start a project with a publish date in mind - they focus on getting things done. 

Filmmaker and YouTuber Casey Neistat also said the same thing about productivity, albeit in different words in his video, 'Finishers, losers'. 

I didn't have that. I was so focused on finishing that I stopped publishing. But that changes today. 

Here's what I have learned about productivity, and perfection so far:

1. Don't chase the false idea of perfection (it doesn't exist), focus on productivity
2. You can get closer to perfection only by finishing things, however imperfectly, that you start
3. Creative process never feels final
4. When you work to publish, you only focus on things that matter and ignore irrelevant stuff
5. The BIGGEST LEARNING - Chasing the idea of perfection/working for pleasure is driven by ego and self-indulgence

Don't get me wrong - I still believe quality trumps quantity. And I don't want to be in a race of the fastest. My goal is not to write here every day. But I do want to use my time productively. Working for pleasure and indulging in the creative process of producing art is fun. But it is also slow. So I will do it sparingly. The rest of the time will be dedicated to 'working to publish'!

With these parting words, I'm finally going to hit the 'publish' button.