September 2013 was supposed to be Graham’s first trip to Australia. Planned for over a year, Graham was going to give a keynote at Australia’s biggest volunteering conference, run some productivity masterclasses in Oz’s coolest cities and go and meet his new Australian publishers ahead of ‘How To Be A Productivity Ninja’ launching there in 2014. A really exciting work trip, popping in on my friends at ProductiveMuslim.com in Dubai on the way back home. A final, pre-fatherhood work fling!
Yet as the time approached, with a pregnant wife whose hospital visits were becoming more complicated and frequent, it became clear that Australia would be too far away. He needed to be here for September. At that moment in time, “life” was getting in the way of all of those best-laid plans. He wondered how much of a stretch it would be to continue with September’s scheduled productivity experiment “Global Office”, in which the intrepid ninja runs his office as normal with just a laptop bag and an internet connection. No matter how hard he could try, Costa Coffee in Kings Cross doesn’t have quite the same ring and excitement as the Sydney Opera House.
And then Graham remembered the words of his coach, Rasheed Ogunlaru, from a time a couple of years ago when he was panicking and scared. He stopped him in the middle of his paranoid rant and said “Graham, this is your material”.
Productivity is nothing to do with perfection. It’s about making the best reality. And as the old saying goes, “when life throws you a lemon, make lemonade”.
So this month is no longer “global office”, or “out of office” as he was planning to rename it. This month is “the lemon”.
We hope you feel inspired by Grahams recap of his extreme productivity experiment! Check back next Thursday to hear all about October’s Experiment: Ruthless Kindnesss!
Are you feeling out by constantly having to be switched on and finding no time to find your work-life balance? Want to achieve more during your day in the office? Look into our ‘Stress Less, Achieve More’ workshops.