Why ‘Doing More with Less’ Is the Wrong Answer—And What You Can Do About It

Our Groundhog Day obsession with trying to always be doing more with less so we can squeeze more mileage out of our lives is harming us more than we realize.

This is the problem...

Although largely unconscious, this well-established urge to be productive 24/7/365 is yet one more thing that’s stressing us out. And, making us less pleasant to be around.

Think about it. How many times have you heard a friend say, “I feel like I should be doing something productive”? You’ll hear her say that just as she’s starting to relax and have a little fun for once.

I believe this is one of many reasons everybody is wound so tight. Why they snap at the tiniest of offenses.

So how did we end up here?

I remember to this very day when I was first introduced to the curse…

We can’t keep throwing more people at the problem. We’re going to have to learn how to do more with less”

—Jack Swindle, VP and Director of Materiel at Texas Instruments

Jack was the big boss at my first job out of college. We’ve all had a lot of time to figure out how to keep doing more with less since then. I’ll leave it at that.

“We must keep doing more with less.” This is the first rule of big corporate America. This is also how the profit machine manages to keep getting an extra point or two every quarter.

Does that sound too cynical? Sorry for that, but we’ve bought into it. Swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

Do more with less eventually was abbreviated in our brains to simply do more. Always.

All at the expense of missed evenings and weekends with friends and family

Yeah sure, big bosses have been cracking the whip since the beginning of the modern workplace.

The sad thing is, it’s not just at work—we’ve brought the same mindset home. We’ve continued to fuel our more, more, and now, now, now appetite with the idea that we must always be busy so we can always do more.

Being busy and doing more feeds on itself as on hamster wheel of a do loop we call living.

Weekends are no longer weekends. When was the last time you allowed yourself to put your feet up in the afternoon and call it good? Could you get by with a few chores or a project on Saturday morning, or maybe run you errands then stop? 

COVID has added to the problem instead of giving us a break

Here we are. We’ve found ourselves in a time and place where we just can’t go do everything we’d like to be doing. One might think there would now be time for other priorities. You know, the real priorities… your someday projects possibly.

Sure, being stuck at home legitimately adds some tasks that weren’t already on the list. I thought we dirtied a lot of dishes before and there’s just the two of us and the pup. How many loads do you run when you have more than 3.14 persons under the same roof?

But that aside, consider that you might be able to dial things back a bit. I guarantee you many other productive people have.

So, what else can we do?

I could cite all kinds of little tricks… stop running on empty, don’t over-promise, do this instead, or that. Sigh. It’s exhausting.

Forget the productivity hacks. Stop trying to figure out how to efficiently integrate every last hope and desire into your life. (Don’t even think cutting out more sleep is the solution.)

But in our culture, we also tend to attach our self-worth to our productivity.

• Grant yourself permission to accept there will always be dirty laundry. Feel free to interpret that as a metaphor if it helps. Yep, it sure fits a multitude of circumstances, doesn’t it?

• Recognize that working hard and productivity aren’t the same. We believe that a sound work ethic is an honorable trait. But…

Hard work doesn’t come with a stipulation of continuance. You can work hard—and then relax in a job well done.”

—Erica Layne, blogger

This is the closely guarded secret… you should do less to get more done.

Sound like a platitude? It’s not.

If you want to be more productive when you’re working, you need to prioritize a bit more downtime.”

—Nicholas Cole of Inc.

Go way back to Abraham Lincoln and you’ll find the only productivity advice that matters. Have you heard this quote?

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend four hours sharpening the ax.”

—Abraham Lincoln

• What if we focused more on the preparation, downtime, some quiet time, and a conducive environment when you are working on a project? You know, stuff that actually helps.

• What if we step back, take a breath, and think about what really matters to us? Then cut out the rest instead of trying to run an unwinnable race.

The crazy thing is, we all seem to have bought into the do more with less proposition by always feeling we need to do more. Well, maybe except for Betty in accounting. Oh, and there’s Nick… you know Nick. They don’t do much around here.

So, stop trying to cram more into less. Humans just aren’t wired to go on like that long term. You’re killing yourself—and everyone around you. Maybe Betty and Nick are on to something?

What if it has more to with what you choose not to do?

Your mileage may vary. Be untucked.

p.s. Here’s a BONUS secret: Some things do take care of themselves. You just need to be patient enough to give them a chance.

p.s.s. So if you’ve stuck with me this far, you might think I’m on to something. Would you consider doing me a favor by sharing this post on your favorite social media platform? Appreciate it! And thanks for reading all the way down.

Copyright © 2020 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved