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- 🤔The Productivity Myth ⏰đźŹ
🤔The Productivity Myth ⏰đźŹ
Series: Becoming a Productivity Powerhouse with AI: Part 1 (of 3)


Walk into many modern offices. You'll probably find exposed brick, pendant lights, maybe even some preserved factory windows. Very industrial-chic.
But it's not just the aesthetics hanging onto their factory roots - our entire concept of productivity is still running on an industrial-age operating system.
Sure, time clocks have become time-tracking apps. Assembly quotas are now KPIs. We've traded punch cards for Asana boards. But underneath those sleek digital veneers? We're still thinking like factory managers: standardized processes, time-based metrics, and an almost religious devotion to "efficiency."
And now we're seeing the ultimate productivity paradox play out in real time: Companies trumpet flexible thinking and innovation while mandating rigid return-to-office policies. They praise adaptability while enforcing standardized work hours. They celebrate diverse thinking styles... as long as those styles fit neatly into their industrial-age metrics and monitoring systems.
The message? "Be creative and flexible! But only between 9 and 5, while sitting at your assigned desk, where we can measure your 'productivity' in person."
For neurotypical minds, this is challenging enough. For those of us with ADHD or other neurodivergent thinking styles? It's like trying to run creative software on a calculator.
Traditional productivity beliefs are a myth.
The system isn't just outdated—it's actively working against how many people’s minds naturally function and is, by default, anti-productive.
The Old Rules (And Why They're Ridiculous)
The Time = Value Equation "If you're not at your desk for 8 hours, are you even working?" Fun fact: Some of history's biggest breakthroughs happened during walks, in showers, or at 3 AM. Yet here we are, measuring presence instead of impact.
The One-Size-Fits-None Approach "This productivity system works for everyone!" Translation: "This system works for people who think exactly like the person who designed it - preferably while sitting in an open-plan office."
The Linear Progress Myth "Please complete steps 1-10 in order." Because creative insights always arrive in perfect sequential order, exactly when the team schedule says they should.
The Focus Fallacy "Single-tasking is the only way to be productive!" Tell that to the ADHD brain that's parallel processing three project threads and spotting the connections that everyone else missed.
You Might Be Stuck in the Productivity “Industrial Age If ...
Your best ideas get lost because they didn't arrive during "brainstorming time"
Your to-do list system changes weekly (and that's seen as a problem)
You're constantly translating your non-linear thoughts into "proper" formats
Your natural work rhythms are treated as "time management issues"
Your productivity is measured by office attendance rather than output
The New Paradigm: Adaptive Productivity
Here's the thing: Today's most valuable work—innovation, problem-solving, strategy—actually benefits from neurodivergent thinking patterns and flexible environments:
Parallel processing multiple project threads
Spotting unexpected patterns across different domains
Rapidly switching between ideas to generate solutions
Processing information in networks rather than lines
Working when and where your brain is most engaged
How AI Changes Everything
This is where AI becomes transformative. Not as another productivity tool to master, but as a partner that supports your natural though processes and helps translate them into deliverables - whether you're at home, in the office, or somewhere in between:
Energy-Based Workflows
ChatGPT for maintaining multiple thought threads simultaneously
Claude for handling complex analysis and connections
Notion for tracking parallel projects and their intersections
Google Calendar for supporting natural task-switching rhythms
Thought Integration
Claude for mapping interconnected ideas and spotting patterns
ChatGPT for capturing and organizing parallel thought streams
Google Docs with Gemini for developing multiple threads simultaneously
Notion AI for managing intersecting project timelines
Focus Amplification
Otter.ai for capturing insights while your mind processes patterns
Claude for summarizing and finding patterns in discussions
ChatGPT for quick idea organization and development
Gemini for visual processing and pattern recognition

![]() Meet Jackson Barn Cat, our office manager, AI whisperer, and all-round curious cat. Each week he’ll nose bop a new challenge. | The Productivity Rebellion Challenge"Track three moments this week when you rebel against traditional productivity "rules" by:
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Some new AI kids on the block, free to use (for now)
Gemini Flash: This is more code-oriented, designed to support “agentic experiences’ but it chats too, and is fast and efficient. I don’t love the interface.
Deepseek: The controversial recent Chinese entrant. Free and fun, though it crashed a few times during my test. Worth a look. Just don’t ask it about Taiwan.
Le Chat: Our French contender from Mistral is blazingly, and I mean BLAZINGLY, fast, but we didn’t quite see eye to eye during our short trial run. It just wasn’t on my wavelength.
Weekly Poll
Which AI Assistant do you rely on and trust the most. |
Next Week
Next Week: Part 2 of our "Becoming a Productivity Powerhouse with AI” series is moving from why traditional productivity fails to how AI can amplify your natural way of working. We'll explore practical ways to turn your unique thinking style into your greatest advantage. Because productivity isn't about forcing yourself into someone else's system - it's about becoming unstoppable in your own.
The Last Word
Your brain isn't broken. The system is. Time to build something better - whether that's at home, in the office, or anywhere your mind works best.

About Me: After decades as an international executive for large media and tech companies—trying to force my ADHD brain to process information "normally"—I finally discovered that my divergent thinking style wasn't a bug, it was a feature. Now, with AI as my partner, I'm showing others how to turn their unique neuro-spicy minds into professional productivity.
We love hearing your views, insights and questions: [email protected]