What Is Productivity Overhead?

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You already know about productivity overhead, you just have been calling it something else.

Just like a business' overhead (the costs needed to cover salaries, rent, the electric bill, etc. etc.) . . .

. . . your productivity has overhead.

You need to sleep, eat, exercise, play, be social, etc. etc.

You will almost never get a productive output during those actions--but we can agree that they're important to stay high-functioning.

But wait, I want to be at peak performance!

Stop for a second and read that last sentence again. Peak performance is a small, temporary spike on the graph. It's not feasible to sustain peak performance.

2 Types of Productivity Overhead

Sure, Hussein Bolt can run the 100m in just a few seconds--but how long would it take him to run a mile? It's not reasonable to expect that he would be able to keep up the same pace.

To make it to the finish line, we will either have to:

1. Take breaks in between (pit stops).
2. Move slower (pace).

Knowing this, consider the cost of your productivity overhead when you take on a new task, close out a contract, or take a vacation.

In order to set reasonable goals and objectives, you will need to consider all the pit stops you'll need to take along the way as well as the pace at which you burn energy.

It needs to be built into the profit margin, just like a product.

When you start looking at your time and energy this way, your mindset will help you create a more functional budget.

I want to challenge you for a second.

If you're like me, you're probably also having thoughts of "well, maybe that's true, but I think I could run full speed for a while."

You might be right!

But consider that stupid mistakes are easier to make when you're tired. Consider what kind of work habits you want to develop. I hear people say things like "when x happens, then I'll start doing y."

"When I have more money, then I'll start investing."

"When I have more time, then I'll start a company."

"When I retire, then I'll start traveling."

You know what I'm about to say.

This is no way to live. You're missing out on life, opportunity, and the power of compounding interest!

So, I'll say it again just to drive this home:

Consider your productivity overhead, which is the recovery time required for achieving goals in a healthy and satisfying way.

Of course, this doesn't just apply to productivity in your work. Check out this post on emotional productivity, a huge blind spot for most people.

This budget, coupled with the discipline of doing the work, will position you for high-quality output.

2 Minute Action

Here's a quick exercise to determine your current productivity overhead and start measuring what a "healthy" productivity overhead ratio looks like.

Take 2 minutes to count your day in half-hours.

You've got 48, half-hour blocks per day.

Write them out and fill in what you're currently doing during each of those chunks.

Take a ratio of "productive hours" to "non-productive" or "overhead" hours.

If you're a consultant, this is like comparing billable-hours with non-billable-hours.

Once you have your day outlined, great! How did that feel?

Everyone is different, so it's up to you to define your optimal ratio. There's no right or wrong answer to this. It's just up to you to measure where you are and know yourself enough to say "this isn't healthy" or "I need to add some overhead if I'm going to make it through this project."

The numbers don't matter, but the results do.

Today is the day. You can start right now and it only takes 2 minutes.