Reimagining Productivity: The Reverse Productivity Method

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

When it comes to self-care, we all have our unique interpretations. Essentially, self-care is about devoting time to activities that help us recover from daily stressors, refilling our reservoirs of resilience. Effective self-care practices should aim to restore us back to our baseline quickly, as opposed to spending idle time lounging on the couch.

Consider this analogy: Imagine I present you with a glass jar and a pile of rocks, a mix of large boulders and tiny bits of gravel. Your task is to fit all the rocks into the jar. If you start with the gravel, you'll quickly discover that there isn't enough room left for the larger rocks. The layer of gravel at the bottom creates a barrier, preventing the larger rocks from fitting. However, if you first place the big rocks and then fill in around them with the gravel, everything fits. You could even add some sand on top of that, and perhaps a bit of water.

This analogy encapsulates how we should structure our lives around the 'big rocks' - the activities that hold greater meaning. The 'small stuff' will naturally fall into place around these larger priorities. But it doesn't work the other way around. If we sweat the small stuff first, we may find no room left for the activities that truly matter. This is where self-care comes into play. Unfortunately, many of us relegate it to an afterthought, something we'll get around to if we find the time - a time that seldom arrives.

The Reverse Productivity method urges us to schedule self-care time first, even before important work tasks. This way, we ensure that it doesn't get overlooked.

For me, hitting the gym is a 'big rock' around which I arrange my productivity. This routine benefits me both physically and mentally, and thus, I schedule it for the mornings and afternoons to maximize its impact on my day. Additionally, I engage in weekly sauna and cold plunge sessions, or floats to rejuvenate and feel my best.

I encourage you to explore Reverse Productivity for yourself this week. Identify those activities you look forward to, and include more of them in your week.

When we talk about how we simply don’t have the time to schedule in our recovery time, what I’ve found is far more often the case with people is not taking the time to plan it well enough.

Thankfully, there’s now an app for that.

Reclaim Your Time with AI

Not all of us have the luxury of executive assistants to manage our calendars and ensure we stick to our self-care time. But, thanks to technology, we have a virtual assistant at our disposal.

Here's how you can reclaim your time and practice Reverse Productivity with AI:

Reclaim.ai, a web application, can serve as your digital assistant. Even its free version is quite useful when it comes to organizing your weekly calendar around a single calendar sync.

Reclaim.ai can schedule what it calls “Habits” for you. The free version allows up to three habits to be synced to your calendar. To make the most of it, prioritize your Reverse Productivity habit. Select the days and time slots you could make work for your recharge time, and Reclaim.ai will schedule them for you automatically each week. And in the case that something comes up that you can’t miss, Reclaim will automatically find the next best time for you to still schedule in your recovery time.

With this approach, you can ensure that your self-care activities don't get buried under the avalanche of daily tasks. Remember, taking care of yourself isn't a luxury—it's a necessity for maintaining peak productivity.

Try out Reclaim.AI for yourself

See how you can plug in your Reverse Productivity habit and let AI work around your schedule to make sure you're giving yourself the time to take care of those big rocks each week.