A new friend recently read some of my prior blog posts about using a roles-based productivity system and wrote, “I like the idea of looking at each life role separately. I’m someone who has measured myself mostly by my career/projects alone for a lot of my life but I’m giving more space and attention to the other areas of my life nowadays. Giving them each a space of their own is a great way to make sure they get the attention they deserve.”
My friend is not alone; my sense is that most people measure themselves based primarily on only one aspect of their lives, their work. The productivity realm reflects this in that it focuses almost entirely on job-related productivity. The assumption is that the main goal of a productivity system is to get more things done in less time at work.
Is Your Life Only About Your Work?
Work is not the only thing that’s important in most people’s lives. And work is often not the most important aspect of their lives.
Why don’t we apply our productivity systems to our whole lives, not just work?
Family, friends, side projects, personal and spiritual growth, and personal hobbies and recreation can be significant as well. Sometimes these roles are more important to a person than the work they do to support themselves and their families.
If that’s the case, then why don’t we apply our productivity systems to our entire lives, not just work?
A Productivity System For Your Whole Life, Not Just Work
Many of the popular productivity systems are based on a project-centric model. When people think of projects, they think primarily of work projects. So, their productivity system focuses on work by default.
An alternative with a much broader scope is to develop a comprehensive productivity system that is role-centric instead of project-centric. Project management is a part of a roles-centric approach, but it encompasses projects in all areas of life, not just work.
If your present productivity system deals only with your work, I’d suggest that you consider modifying it to become a roles-based system. Using such a system gives space and attention to the other areas of your life besides just work.
How To Implement a Roles-Based Productivity System To Cover All Areas of Your Life
To have a system that encompasses our entire lives, we want to do as my friend suggested: “…I’m giving more space and attention to the other areas of my life nowadays. Giving them each a space of their own is a great way to make sure they get the attention they deserve.”
The problem in most productivity systems is that they don’t give other areas of our lives a “space of their own.” Our non-job roles, therefore, don’t get the attention they deserve. All of our attention goes to only one space, work.
I’ve used the roles-based system developed by David Sparks to build my system. He describes his approach and method in a short video and PDF guide. Sparks provides a step-by-step process you can follow.
First, I identified my present (or aspirational) life roles. Next, I wrote ideal role descriptions that describe how I would act if I were living up to my ideal of my best self in each role. These aren’t goals to achieve, but ideals to strive for. They give me a way to measure my progress in each role.
The problem in most productivity systems is that they don’t give other areas of our lives a “space of their own.”
Sparks next suggests a series of “tough questions” that helped me to thoroughly evaluate each role. Some questions are, “What About This Role Brings Me Delight?”, “What About This Role Brings Me Dread?”, “What Should I Keep Doing?”, and “What Should I Stop Doing?”
Out of thinking about each role in depth and answering the tough questions, several action steps became evident. I included these in my MindNode mind map of all of my roles, and transferred them to my task manager, Things, at the end of the process.
For me, this initial process took one full day and two half-days. And be warned that this is not a linear process; I found that while working on one role I would think of something I needed to add to another role and there was a constant flow of jumping back and forth between roles. It took me a lot more time than I thought it would to work through this whole process.
How to Continue to Make All the Roles in Your Life Get “The Attention They Deserve.”
We’ve all likely had the experience of going to a retreat or conference and learning some new life-changing concepts, getting all charged up about them, and then forgetting all about them after a couple of weeks. Life returns to the status quo before you went to the program.
To ensure that all your life roles continue to get your attention, you’ll have to set up a weekly or monthly review system. I’ve prepared a page in Craft (see above) that lists all of my life roles in a graphically attractive format that makes it more appealing to do my reviews. Each role block, when clicked, links to a separate page for the role.
The role page includes a photo of the person the role relates to for relationships or a generic photo that represents the role. I list my three review questions (also borrowed from David Sparks) at the top:
- How am I doing?
- Where can I get better?
- Where am I doing good?
Following these questions is the ideal description of that life role. I recently switched to using bullet points because it helps me to focus on each specific description. As I go through these ideal descriptions, I ask myself the review questions.
To ensure that all your life roles continue to get your attention, you’ll have to set up a weekly or monthly review system.
For me, I’ve found the best time to do this review is Sunday afternoon. I have a recurring note in my task manager to process my roles review each Sunday.
Take Action!
Perhaps you agree that there are more important things in your life than just your day job. You see the value of applying your productivity system and techniques to the other areas of your life as well.
In order for that to happen, you’re going to have to commit to take action!
I’d suggest that if the life roles inventory and evaluation process resonates with you, you schedule on your calendar at least a full day to work through the basic process. Even better, go somewhere else and spend an afternoon, a full day, and a morning focusing on your life roles.
If you’d like to read more about my experience during my inventory and evaluation session, see my article here.