As we celebrate Labour Day in North America, a new workplace trend called quiet quitting has been making headlines. It’s all about working only the hours you’re paid for—something many productive people were doing long before this trend hit the news. What’s their secret? This week’s Simple Living Sunday post looks at ways to boost your productivity.

Don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy.

Robin Sharma

Three simple pleasures and highlights

Continuing my practice of celebrating the simple things in life, here are three simple pleasures and highlights of the last week.

• My daughter Laura arrived safely in Australia.
• We picked up our new car on Wednesday so we finally said bye-bye to our 2010 Altima.
• My daughter Colleen and I both had the day off on Friday. We went to visit my mum. We had a lovely walk along the riverbank and ate lunch at one of our favourite take-out places.

This week’s simple living focus: Can quiet quitting boost productivity?

Quiet quitting may be the latest workplace buzzword, but is working only the hours you’re paid for really all that revolutionary?

Labour Day, celebrated in Canada and the United States on the first Monday in September, was originally organized by labour unions to campaign for workers’ rights. As we emerge from the pandemic, many organizations are struggling to find qualified workers. It’s clear this shift in the balance of power has given employees the opportunity to rethink their relationship with work.

My view is that the current workplace trends are more about setting things right, and not about laziness or a radical work-to-rule campaign as many would have you believe.

My quiet quitting story

Some people might say I “quietly quit” years ago. Early in my career, I worked many unpaid hours beyond the traditional 9-to-5. But the more hours I worked, and the more I got things done, the more work my managers piled on me. It’s one of the biggest and oldest management mistakes. How do managers reward good workers? They give them more work!

After my daughters were born, I was no longer able or willing to work extra unpaid hours. In the corporate world, I witnessed many people who constantly bragged about how many hours they put in. They wore their exhaustion like a badge of honour. I took a different approach and decided to focus instead on getting as much done as possible in an eight-hour work day. Productivity should be about output, and not input.

Don’t get me wrong. I still work extra hours when needed, but I’m no longer willing to make it a habit. I’m proud of how I manage my time, and will stack my eight hours up against the ten- or twelve-hour days others claim to put in.

Keeping things in balance

At times over the years, the pendulum would swing too far in the work direction. Whenever I would catch myself falling into the trap of working too many hours, I would reassess and reset.

In my opinion, no employer should expect their workers to put in more hours than they’re paid for. If a solid and productive eight-hour workday isn’t good enough, then something has to change.

They key words here, though, is productive.

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Three things to do this week

So, what’s the secret to productivity and getting work done in an eight-hour day? Well, it really isn’t a secret at all. It comes down to three simple things: knowing your priorities, spending time on the right tasks, and overcoming procrastination.

Let’s look at three things you can start this week to increase your productivity.

Know your priorities

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

Steven Covey

The biggest productivity zapper is trying to do it all. When you do that, you end up spreading yourself too thin and not doing anything well. It’s a horrible feeling that can lead to disengagement and burnout. I know…I’ve been there.

First, make a list of all the things you have on the go. If there’s too much on the list, assess each one to see what you can put on the back burner for a while. If you don’t feel like you can put anything on the back burner, it might be time for an honest conversation with your boss—or your family for non-work-related tasks.

Spend your time on the right tasks

After you’ve defined your priorities, it’s time to take a look at how you spend your days. It’s all too easy to fill our days with busy work—lower-priority tasks that don’t take a lot of effort—so we can get the satisfaction of ticking something off our list. 

There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

Be ruthless about how you spend your time. If that busy work really is low priority, ask yourself what would happen if you didn’t do it? The answer might surprise you.

Overcome procrastination

Finally, with your list of priorities and important tasks in hand, make a plan to get them done.

Procrastination is another productivity zapper that will eat away at your time. Most of us have a time of day when we’re most productive. Figure out your most productive time of day and block time in your calendar to do things you’ve been putting off.

As an example, if you’re more productive in the morning—and most people are—then try tackling a task you’ve been putting off before you log on to your email and get caught up in responding to messages.

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It’s time for a reset.

Having a well-rounded life will make you a better and more productive employee. If done right, quiet quitting can actually motivate employees to get their work done in a normal workday. Instead of being viewed as lazy or disengaged, wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone could feel good about leaving work on time after putting in a full and productive day?

How do you feel about the quiet quitting trend? Tell me your thoughts below.