Toxic Productivity and Time Hacking Organizations

Toxic Productivity has surfaced as an outcome of our obsession with hustle culture and success at all costs. But what is it actually costing you as an individual and the organizations you work for?

Listen as I break down the true costs and offer simple solutions to prevent this productivity sucker so you too can achieve more without burnout, stress or long hours.

And if you work at an organization that cares about its employees and is onto the time problem, email us to find out more about how we can support you and your teams to also achieve more through Time Hacking or one off trainings.

Simply email [email protected] and let us know about you and your organization and we will be in touch. The way we work is ripe for change, we would love to help you get ahead of the curve.

Transcript : 

hello hello lovely people
coming at you today with it's
financially sorry I'm getting used to
standing with my new standing desk and
the camera being super close actually to
me
um but anyway
I got distracted there ironically given
what we speak about on this podcast
but today we're going to speak about in
particular toxic productivity
and before I go into it and into What It
Is What It Isn't what it creates and
what we can do about it I do want to let
you know that there's actually hired by
a company to come in and do a training
on this for their team and it is
possible to get me or time hackers to
come into your organization and
run trainings around non-toxic
productivity around time hacking around
decision making
um around you know productivity all of
these good things any of the topics that
you see here and that will help you your
organizations your people your community
is to achieve more without burning out
without working longer hours without
doing all the things obviously this is
our expertise and you may have already
heard the big exciting news which is
time hackers is in itself as a program
available for companies
um alongside one-to-one coaching for
their teens and their people so if you
want to speak about that
you can email teams at teams sorry not
teams team Vicky louise.com
um and that's whether you want like a
one-off workshop or a three-part series
some people have us come in and do a
three-part series
um or to discuss bringing in time
hackers and one-to-one coaching
um into your teams into your
organizations so that as an organization
you can achieve more
without
burning people out without stress like
the way I like to think of it is
everybody comes to your organization
comes to their job especially listening
to this podcast wanting to achieve
things we've just never been taught how
to optimize our time we've tracked the
code over here it's how my clients are
like 11xing their income while working
less and having their
biggest Revenue months all of this crazy
stuff happens inside time hackers we
want to start spreading this new way of
work this new way of optimizing time
instead of just managing it into
organization so we can change how we
work it's so right for change I think
the pandemic showed us that it gave us
that first step into this opportunity
and we just want to ride that change so
that we can finally bring how we work
into our modern day of work and that's
to say you know we're not working in
factories anymore we are working online
we have so much power at the touch of
our fingertips but that can be a
blessing and a curse in terms of this
constant distraction or this constant
need to you know keep our fingers in
every pot I think the saying is so how
we optimize our time has never been more
important than it is now because of our
access
um to so much at the touch of our
fingertips so if you work at an
organization or you run an organization
or you know someone who has an
organization that is experiencing this
time problem which by the way every
single CEO or HR person I'm speaking to
is like aware that there's a Time
problem then um obviously we have the
solution I would love to connect and
speak with you whether it's a one-off
training or finding out more about time
hackers so just email team at Vicky
louise.com and let's make it happen
So today we're going to be talking about
toxic productivity and I want you to
think about what toxic productivity is
for you what comes to mind when you hear
the phrase toxic productivity because
the word toxic we want to remember is
like literally defined as poisonous
literally defined as deadly
and obviously we're coming back off the
back of this like hustle culture this
like Hustle Hard celebration you know
working at working 100 hour weeks I saw
someone recently on Instagram promoting
working 100 hour weeks and the irony was
you know how unsuccessful their business
was I'm just gonna say it I know it
sounds
um having a supermarket I know it sounds
um maybe but it's just the
reality of like if you are telling
people to work 100 hour weeks to create
success I hope you are successful
um but you're probably not because I
know for me when I was working 80 plus
hour weeks and around people that were
doing that it actually wasn't successful
it was only successful in creating
burnout anxiety stress poor sleep poor
health all of those things
so when we think about toxic
productivity I'm gonna break it down for
us in three different ways the first way
is really checking in with our mindset
and what's going on in our brain how we
are thinking
so if you're thinking things when it
comes to your work like I'm not doing
enough not working as bad or lazy I'm
bad or lazy when I'm not working if
you're thinking you know that old I'll
sleep when I'm dead mindset that I
obviously lived off for a few years uh
barely survived off um or I'll rest when
I'm done I'll rest later or I should be
doing more now or I need to do this this
and this now I need to do everything all
at once these are all these are all you
know toxic productivity mindsets shall
we say and it's all about driving us to
work too much with that personal cost
um it's all about prioritizing our work
over ourselves and seeing ourselves as
really just a function for our work
so the next part I want to speak about
is our emotions and this is all about
how we are feeling when it comes to
being toxically productive
if you are feeling a lot of guilt when
you are not working or when you are not
doing all or you are not closing off
your week having completed everything
off your to-do list for example if you
still have a to-do list which by the way
if you don't high five
um If you experience a lot of Shame
around what you didn't get done around
what you should be doing about where you
are in terms of your career trajectory
or your business trajectory or your
relationship trajectory I I always joke
like not joke that's the wrong word but
when I'm doing these workshops at
companies it's a big thing to identify
that time impacts all areas of our lives
so when we speak about time hacking it
really is like beneficial across all
areas of our life it's not just our work
that benefits it's like literally
touches touches every part of our Lives
um if you're feeling a lot of fear fear
of failure fear of rejection fear of
letting people down that's a big um
indicator you may be working towards
toxic productivity or with toxic
productivity
if you feel neglected in yourself that
self neglect that like I don't have or
I've not been taking care of myself in
any way
hello toxic productivity also insecurity
right we can be driven from insecurity
to work longer hours to do more and to
sacrifice more than we are have
available hello toxic productivity
and the last one which will come as no
surprise is stress even as you're
listening to this I want you to think
about if there's any others that you
would add
um to emotions that may be indeed
indicative of or drivers of toxic
productivity
um and then moving on to that final
juicy step and this is what we do in
time hackers all the time we connect how
we are thinking to how we are feeling to
how we are behaving and so we do want to
be thinking about how we are actually
acting when we are you know operating
from toxic productivity
and it's really this place where like
working ourselves and our health compete
we see them as like if I take care of
myself I must be willing to earn less if
I take care of myself I'm not going to
be as productive at work
um and so this can show up in being like
super attached to work technology and
that could be slack it could be your
emails
um and not just work technology but like
everything on your to-do list it's like
when you are over committing to taking
on more than you can reasonably do and
even when you already have on more than
you can reasonably do continuing to say
yes our fear of like you know letting
people down if we're connected to the
emotion that we just spoke about
um pushing through you know I've been in
people have brought me into teams or
their masterminds or their programs or
their Community is to have me teach and
and that attitude of like celebrating
pushing through
um even when we're sick or we're ill or
on the verge and actually spoke with one
of my best friends a few weeks ago I was
in recruitment super
High pressured environment and I spoke
with him and he was like you know
yesterday I worked 14 hours 14 hours in
a day and today I am on my way home half
day because I'm so sick so like really
understanding that that is like a prime
example of toxic productivity thank you
to him for allowing me to share that
um and then also we have
comparing ourselves if you're on this
cycle of comparing yourself to what
other people are doing and building this
like mental tally of what you've done of
what you've not done of what they've
done and what they've not done
um then that's you know acting from
toxic productivity or towards it
and again this last one this is I love
my mum but this is like a big one that
comes up
um in my chats with her which is like
treating ourselves differently based on
what we've done and this can be obvious
when we think of seriously just saying
like how was your day
if when you answer that you're thinking
like I had a good day I got a lot done
but I had a bad day I didn't really get
anything done that connection between
good and bad and amount of things done
is acting from toxic productivity
no shade no judgment if this is you this
has been me this is so many of us this
is how we've been trained and
conditioned to be just because we've
been trained and conditioned to be that
way it doesn't mean we have to stay that
way
um that's gonna be what we talk about
here but just really stepping back a
minute and thinking about what other
indicators like what are the indicators
that we are in toxic productivity and
it's the things that we've just spoken
about it's that guilt for taking time
off or even not taking time off and or
even checking work while taking time off
so not allowing ourselves to really
separate from our work it can be the
shame that we feel for not getting
enough done and you know what we spoke
about comparing your productivity to
what someone else got done and feeling
like you have something to prove
and then there's the obvious one which
is like that overworking that chronic
overworking Beyond you know what's even
productive or helpful anymore longer
hours longer days more tasks saying yes
yes yes even though you already feel
like you have
too much to do it's that neglecting of
yourself and your basic needs whether
it's like oh I don't know I've not
showered for a few days or I've not
managed to put the laundry on for weeks
or whatever it might be
another one this is like such a funny
one to speak about because it's so
commonly done which is not letting
ourselves go to the bathroom and just
like sitting at the desk legs crossed
like finishing that email like must
finish that email skipping Foo skipping
water skipping rests like all of that
side of things and just generally
neglecting your life outside of work
this is all you know signs and
indicators that
you're experiencing uh or in the loop of
toxic productivity and they all like
relate to each other which is what we've
spoken about now
the issue is what this actually creates
for you for your organizations for your
teams for your people
and for you it's about like burnout and
sickness and Stress and Anxiety maybe
even depression it's going to directly
impact your physical health it's going
to directly impact your sleep it's going
to you know make you unhappy and
really create actually ironically more
job dissatisfaction the more we are in
toxic productivity remember poisonous
overworking
the more detached we become from our
work and the less we like it so
this is what it's actually creating for
you which is why if you have been
listening to this and been like oh you
know I am familiar and you know these
things are relatable but I don't want to
change them I just want you to pause and
think what is it actually creating for
you
and then if you're in a team
then what this means is you know we're
actually going to end up covering more
for people as they are going to end up
sick so when we're already overworking
we're going to be doubling down on that
it also creates like less connection at
work because we're in this state of
stress and anxiety and disconnection and
just dissatisfaction
and that means we're going to be less
cohesive as a team
um it also means when we are speaking to
clients we're not going to be able to
accurately accurately predict deadlines
and work and what's of you know what
we're going to be able to produce and
that directly impacts you're an
organization your Revenue your client
relationships and your reputation so
this is an expense to companies there's
a reason why companies are speaking to
me and wanting to bring in time packers
and wanting me to do these workshops
it's because they are understanding that
how you use your time directly impacts
how employees use their time how teams
use their time directly impacts Revenue
directly impacts bottom line and
obviously directly impacts things like
you know employee and staff turnover and
recruitment costs and all of that stuff
as well
um
so other things could be you know I
think about like really low more low
morale
um
and disconnection to the work which is
spoken about and just to like tie it all
in to what this produces for the
organization it is lower Revenue it is
higher turnover it is going to be higher
recruiting costs it's going to be lower
productivity toxic productivity always
produces lower productivity lower
production for the reasons that we've
spoken about for how it affects the
individual and how it affects our teams
um also less creativity and
higher destruction right anxiety and
stress is very destructive and so really
thinking about for you if you are an
employee or a CEO or working in
organizations or manage a team
identifies worth identifying and having
these conversations around toxic
productivity and learning to solve for
them
which is really what I wanted to discuss
next which is how to solve for toxic
productivity what can we actually do I
mean of course you can contact us and we
will be happy to help you solve this but
for today I wanted to leave you with
like some simple actionable things that
you can do as an individual if you are
experiencing toxic productivity as a
team leader or HR representative or as a
Founder CEO
someone responsible for a company
so the first thing is all around
communication and creating those open
lines of communication creating safety
for people to say I have too much going
on without it being met with oh sorry
that's just how it is right now
um we want to create communication not
just necessarily with like an individual
and a manager but also within teams
um so that we can create create these
uh this on purpose culture around time
and productivity that's productive and
helpful supportive and ultimately
successful
the next thing is like we can support
ourselves in terms of
the schedules and the goals that we set
and really thinking intentionally
instead of you know what I think about
like screwing off future sales over this
is one of the gripes I have around you
know setting a schedule on a Sunday is
too often I've seen literally hundreds
of clients screw their Thursday self
over by setting too much to do and then
getting there and then making themselves
feel bad because they didn't get the
thing done and I know we live in this
culture and where doing more is better
and being productive is more valuable it
makes you more valuable as a human
obviously it doesn't but this is the
culture we have inherited and created
and that we're working to undo because
it's not actually productive
um but when you set realistic schedules
and realistic goals
you are able to create success more and
that fuels confidence and fuels Bolder
decisions and higher creativity and all
these juicy things that actually benefit
you as an individual and your
organization
um obviously nourishing how can we
nourish ourselves how can we encourage
nourishment in our teams and it could be
like getting outside taking breaks
encouraging people to step outside the
office for 20 minutes at lunch instead
of like I used to do which was I think I
used to go to Sainsbury's on a Monday
buy a big bag of my lunch for the whole
week so I didn't need to even go to
Sainsbury's again a different day that
was super extreme
and I can only imagine what it's like
now and we can order so much food to our
desk we literally don't have to leave so
how can we rest how can we take care of
ourselves how can we encourage
um some nourishment that doesn't have to
take a lot of time it doesn't have to be
expensive in order to be effective
and off the back of that I would say
continuing even towards more self-care
and that could literally be just asking
for support it doesn't have to be smelly
candles and baths it could literally be
I am going to share this or ask for this
um instead of what so many of my clients
do which is like carry that burden on on
their own which can then often build a
kind of like resentment because we're
carrying this burden that we didn't even
you know get asked to Gary and other
people don't even know about so we're
not getting acknowledged or celebrated
for it which
you know it's interesting and of course
I mean right now we've just kicked off
inside time hackers success hacking we
do this by celebrating we celebrate
every single day all of us and I think
it's too small and the thing is too big
and it creates this like
Compound Effect of like all of us
focusing on celebrating and redirecting
our brain away from the problem it's
highly effective highly simple and this
is something you could do yourself it's
something you can do in your teams it's
something you could have us come in and
teach you
and the last thing is just really to
like own our humanity and appreciate it
instead of getting frustrated like a lot
of the solutions for productivity are
Tech focused and Tech is moving super
fast and it's like able to do more and
do more and do more don't expect us
humans to grow at that same rate we are
not robots that's our specialty there's
certain things that we can do that
technology never can and even like chat
gbt I was um playing with it that's a
big Talk of the Town right now I was
playing with it and I thought like oh
what's eight ways to save time and it
came up with these like super generic
irrelevant outdated things I'm just
gonna say it um compared to what I speak
about on this podcast and time hacking
and how we really solve for having too
much to do and not enough time so that's
where it's at on toxic productivity and
how you can actually solve for it
whether you're an individual a team
leader or an organization and again I
would encourage you right now to get in
touch with us and find out more about
how we can train you and your teams
either in time hacking or through
one-off trainings that really supports
them so that you're all able to achieve
more without doing more without longer
hours or without more stress it's like a
win-win-win all round it's the future of
work and for anyone that's part of an
organization that cares about its
employees and is you know
creative and pioneering and wants to be
ahead of the curve this is it this is
your sign just contact team
vickylouise.com and we'll set up a time
to talk with you I can't wait to speak
with you soon bye lovelies oh and by the
way if you feel called to share this
with friends or other Founders or other
HR people please do this is a great
episode to inspire people and to helping
solve this issue for themselves and
their organizations so I appreciate you
sharing it thank you so much bye