FOCUSED productivity? ON…

Just as busyness has become a cult for many of us, there is also a drive to be seen as productive. Whether it’s balancing multiple roles or trying to move forward in your career, increased productivity has become the holy grail. There have been a slew of books and podcasts promising to make us productivity superstars, helping us to ‘smash it’ every day, working longer, harder, smarter. But it’s a trend that has caused Dr Alice Boyes, psychologist turned author of Stress-free Productivity

(Ebury, £12.99), to fear the impact on our mental health.

‘I’ve been writing about this area for years now, and there has been a huge push towards developing habits of focus, discipline and willpower in order to get more done,’ she explains. ‘But, remember, you’re not working to be the most productive writer, or the most productive lawyer: that’s not the point of your life. Productivity alone isn’t the end goal.

‘This constant focus on churning out work is treating us like robots,’ says Dr Boyes. ‘But humans make poor robots – let’s focus on being human! Your experiences outside of work – your hobbies, your interests, the things that make you different from everyone else who has followed the same career path – are part of your package. And when you bring those into work, you might come up with an idea no one else could ever have thought of.’

It’s certainly true for me, as my life is what made me want to write this dossier in the first place, after all. Not only do I struggle with focus, but my husband has ADHD, so I’m more than aware of the way my life circumstances give me insight into this subject, and perhaps come at it from a different angle to most writers. I explain this to Dr Boyes, and her eyes light up at my motivation. ‘A lot of the writing on focus seems targeted at privileged men and helping them do more, to free up more time, to make more money,’ she says. ‘But there are multiple paths to success, and other ways that are more inclusive – whether it’s to women, neurodiverse people, or people of colour,’ she explains.

‘You don’t have to buy into the hustle culture, where the only point is to do more work in less time so you can also have a side hustle and make your millions,’ says Dr Boyes. ‘It’s about so much more than that. Can you find focus to help you do better work? And what is the impact of that on your mental health?

I think it can only be good.’