What my CPU taught me about productivity last night

Last night when I was working behind my computer I discovered a striking analogy between my working style and the way my computer handles its work. And the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that my computer is better in productivity than I am.It started when I began a rendering job for a video file. The little gauge in the systray flashed to bright green as the CPU-load shot to 100%. Usually my computer becomes quite unresponsive at these times, so I set off to get something to drink while uttering a disgruntled “so much for multitasking”.

While pouring my drink, I was pondering the multitasking and came to realize that I liked it. Rendering is a hard task and it requires a lot of computational power. By allocating all resources to it I would get results fast, and that part I liked.

I like it better than getting results slower, but being able to continue working on other stuff at the same time. So while my computer was singletasking and I was idling, I favored that above both of us multitasking. And this was inspiration enough for another article (I seem to get my ideas during idle-times).

So let’s compare how I work and how my computer works, and let’s see what we can learn.

The way I work
I work in bursts of productivity followed by periods of idling. In those bursts of productivity I can tick off a lot of tasks, and if I’m lucky I get into the flow and get some big tasks done as well. Most of the times however, there are a lot of interruptions during these bursts of productivity. These interruptions are either caused by an external source, but my own behavior causes a lot of them too. Those interruptions break my productive period and I slip into an idle period.

The periods in which I’m idling are non-productive. They do have other benefits, and I cherish them in a way, but not when it comes down to productivity. A lot of time I’m trying to pick up the pieces from where I was interrupted. And also quite often I’m indecisive on what to start next…as there’s so much to do.

The way my cpu works
When I looked at the graph for the cpu-load of my computer, I started to look at the behavior of my cpu. It has three modes as far as I can tell:

• idling
• medium load
• full load

When the cpu is idling, it’s not doing anything at all. Well…some minor system tasks, but nothing of real importance.

During medium load the cpu is multitasking (as far as I can tell anyway). At these times the workload is manageable and new tasks are taken up when requested.

On full load the cpu is singletasking, devoting all its time and resources to finishing the most important task at hand. Also eliminating distractions as much as possible. I can click on another window to switch to Excel for instance, but it’ll just tell me to wait (well not even that actually). It will first finish the most important task.

But most of the time…the lazy thing is idling

So what did I learn?
There are three major lessons for me in this:

• Balance workload
  I work in two modes (full load and idle). By balancing the workload better, I’m probably better able to multitask. Multitasking requires a smooth start and stop method. This is where GTD-principles are working for me (although I still haven’t mastered most of them). If I reduce my start-up time for tasks, multitasking will be a productive method of working.
• Singletask critical tasks
  When there’s something really important to do, I have to make sure that it is all I do. I knew this already, but it keeps coming back as a lesson to be learned (and will continue to do so until I’ve learned it I guess).
• Eliminate distractions
  My CPU eliminates distractions during highly productive periods. It just stops responding to other requests and tasks. This is something I should be able to do as well. Not responding may be a bit rude, but I can manage to make sure that I can’t be reached (switch off phones, close e-mail, close IM, close door etc).

Now only to find a way to make sure that I don’t distract myself…to keep me from thinking other thoughts, starting other tasks or drifting off in an idle mode. That’s something the CPU will not teach me, as in that respect it’s still a mindless piece of technology.