Meme Week: My Secret to Productivity

May 9th, 2007 | blogtipping, faith and work

MEME TWO: The Ultimate Guide to Productivity

My secret is not martial arts, though I wish it was. Karin tagged me with this meme from Ben over at Instigator Blog.

[Note: I lost some bits of posts during meme week, and the attributions were part of that loss. Sorry Karin and Ben!]Â

I discoveredÂ myÂ secret to productivityÂ on accident one week when I was teaching English III AP. The south Texas rainy season had just turned into the beauty of Spring. Wild flowers were everywhere. The sun was shining. The skies were clear. The breeze was cool.

And I was trapped in a cinderblock classroom under flourescent lights with thirty students who did not want to study Thoreau or Whitman or Emerson or any writers ofÂ American Romanticism. (Laugh all you want, Chris Cree. I like Wikipedia.)

That on Monday night, I complained and complained. My wife listened like a saint and said, “So what? You’re the teacher. If you don’t like what you are doing, stop it. Do something else.”

You know, it’s so obvious.

If you don’t like what you are doing, stop it. Do something else.

Because if you like what you are doing, you are going to be productive. Obviously this can be perverted into a justification for laziness, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about something similar to what is making Marcus BuckinghamÂ rich.

My goal has never been riches, though. (So don’t feel bad about your comment, L.L.) I just stopped doing the things I didn’t like. I never taught The Scarlet Letter again. In fact, I never taught another book, story, poem, play, or essay that I didn’t love as much as life itself. (A little exaggeration there.) And I never assigned an essay or story or poem or assessment that I wouldn’t love doing myself.

If I didn’t love it, how could I ever expect my students to love it?

That week, the sun was shining and the flowers were blooming, and we studied American Romanticism outside in the prickly pear forests behind our rural school. It was an experiential lesson. Something beyond just English. Something, I hoped, more profound.

I told my students, “Wordsworth defined poetry as ‘emotion recollected in tranquility.’ During Walden Week, we are going to experience some emotion in nature. Just like the Romantics. Your class timeÂ assignment for the next two daysÂ is to experience emotion. That’s it. Then you’ll go home an recollect it. But you can’t recollect what you don’t experience.”

You wouldn’t believe how productive the students were after those two days.

So now I’d like to know the productivity secrets of Al Hsu, Craver VII, Patrick and Every Square Inch. If you answer in the comments here, that’s fine with me, though I think it breaks the meme rules. (Which means you’ll have to be leery of the meme police for the rest of your life! Do you want to take that chance?)

11 comments ↓

#1 L.L. Barkat on 05.09.07 at 1:50 pm

I think that’s a fascinating assignment. I wonder how your students managed to have emotions in nature. You know, you can go outside and not see a thing. Not feel a single strong feeling. Not taste the air, or hear the rustle of leaves.

Nonetheless, it’s cool that you asked them to do it.

#2 Craver-VII on 05.09.07 at 2:17 pm

I assume youâ€™re talking about productivity as it pertains to blogging, specifically. I probably could have answered that question in three letters: A.D.D.

I am the type to always carry paper and pen so that I can make notations if I find something interesting. Most of these end up as useless confetti on my dresser. When I have an idea of what I want to say, it may be based on a quote from my pastor or someoneâ€™s reaction to the daily news, I search out a relevant photo on Flickr.com. The picture is important to me. If I do not find a decent picture, Iâ€™ll table the idea, hoping a better image will come along later.

Back to ADD. The way this happens, is actually kind of embarrassing. I will find that a concept is urgently pushing its way out, insisting on being birthed. I will leave lunch early or skip a break so that I can deliver it when it is time. Attention deficit disorder is a misnomer. It is not the lack of focus, but more like hyper-focusing on one thought or event, to the point that everything else is not noticed.

Productivity? Well, I supposeâ€¦ if you want to put a positive spin on itâ€¦

#3 Charity Singleton on 05.09.07 at 4:25 pm

Mark — Great idea for a meme worth remembering! And I like your idea of not doing what you don’t like. The stubborn part of me tries to finish things even when I don’t see the point. I love these thoughts.

#4 wayne thomas batson on 05.09.07 at 6:44 pm

Mark, sorry to be off topic, but I need to let you know that you have been tagged. Should you accept THIS mission, click on over to my blog and find out just what kind of nonsense this is.

-Wayne

#5 Every Square Inch on 05.09.07 at 9:32 pm

Marcus

I don’t know what a meme is but I’ve taken up your challenge and it’s on my blog. My closely held productivity secrets are now out in the open for the world to see!

Tell me what you think.

#6 Eve Nielsen on 05.10.07 at 8:12 am

Craver-I think I’m A.D.D. too! (according to your description) My poor hubby and kids!

#7 Marcus on 05.10.07 at 9:49 am

Sorry comments are so slow from me this week. I’m scrambling to get ready for a blog convention. But I appreciate all of your thoughts! I hope to answer everyone individually soon.

#8 Marcus on 05.11.07 at 9:31 am