Panel on Productivity

I’m sitting here at SXSW in at a panel entitled “I’m So Productive, I Never Get Anything Done.” It’s probably the worst panel at a conference that I have ever been to. I wish that I tweeted regularly so that I knew how to quickly tweet with the appropriate hashtag and tell everyone at the conference, including the organizers, how much I hate it.

Anyway, what’s making me mad about it is that the people who are on the panel have no information, no research, and no advice. They simply say, “buckle down, don’t let yourself get distracted, and do the work.” Oh, thank you.

If it’s true that these people are great at self-control, then I don’t think that they are the best people to offer advice to those who want to be more productive . . . But wait! Now these supposed experts on self-control are freely admitting that their personal relationships are screwed up because they are constantly distracted by their phones.

Here’s my theory: the people on the panel are not more productive than the people attending it. They are just more confident and more forgiving of themselves. Maybe it would help the people attending the panel to believe that they are productive. Maybe believing it makes it true.