Before you reach for the fly swatter… Hyperliving and Productivity

Dave Zac, a futurist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin has coined the term “hyperliving”. He's an excellent communicator and he has some truly unique ideas. When asked “What is hyperliving and how does it affect us?” this is his response:

            “Hyperliving is the notion that more and more of us are just skimming along the surface of life, not enjoying what we're doing but just trying to finish it so we can get to the next item on the list. It helps us get a lot of things done, but we're likely to forget or miss the reasons we were doing them. There was an article in the New York Times entitled Meet the Life Hackers - all about how interruptions are causing us to lose continuity of thought. We're developing the attention spans of house flies - flitting from one thing to another. You cannot do the level of quality that you're capable of if you're like the average American worker who only spends 11 minutes on any one task before being interrupted.” 

The big question you need to ask yourself in 2009:

Are you employing house flies and what are you doing about it?

Hyperliving results in a lack of productivity. The brain does not allow us –not even the most efficient of women - to multitask. It is a multitasking myth. The human brain can only learn to refocus. Managing interruptions requires the skill of redirecting your focus effectively and then efficiently returning it back to your previous task. Without the necessary skills, systems and the required levels of energy, this lack of productivity will destroy profits, resulting in a decision to simply get rid of the flies.  

Torr Dahl, an Economist and Productivity Expert, was asked:  “What will create more wealth in the economy?”  His answer: “Only one thing can pull the globe out of a credit crisis. Every man, woman and child has to become more productive than they were before.”  As organizations consider retrenchments, the consequences of these actions will become global.

Will 2009 be any different from 2008? The answer depends on your leadership agenda. Are you going to reach for the fly swatter or are you going to get help to energise and refocus every man and woman that works in your organization?  

Outsourced to Think

Carey-Lyn Kurten

Published in Business Link Magazine Ed 48: March/April 2009