How to Use Quality and Quantity to Double Your Productivity

Hint: One is more widely accepted than the other

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Does productivity equal quality or quantity? Inherently we all know the answer to this question. Ideal productivity is, in fact, a mixture of both quality and quantity.

In a perfect world, we want to produce the most high-quality items, experiences, or connections in the largest possible quantities. That’s a big part of some people’s definition of productivity. I have some unfortunate news, though:

The world doesn’t work that way.

Not in all instances, anyway. Do you know how I am now absolutely positive of this fact?

One word: Disneyland.

We took my son to Disneyland this weekend and we were surrounded by people from all corners of the earth trying desperately to have the happiest possible time they could muster at the self-proclaimed “happiest place on earth.”

For tens of thousands of supposedly happy people we saw there, I noticed a whoooooole lot of grumpy faces. Painful-looking sunburns, parents sipping cheap beer while limping after screaming kids, and people shoving every type of fat, sugar, salt, and chemical possible through their chapped lips down their gullets.

I’ll say it again — these people did not look happy. Not for the most part, anyway. Some were smiling. But the majority of the people I saw, at least in my perception, were pretty darn stressed and miserable.

So, what gives? For a place with meticulously curated sensory experiences, fireworks displays every night, and hundreds and hundreds of spinning contraptions whose sole purpose was to bring people amusement, why were all of these people not literally jumping for joy?

Quality Over Quantity

The answer to the question above is that I believe people are taught to value quantity over quality. OK, maybe that’s a broad statement. I will say that I am fairly certain that at least most Americans are taught to value quantity over quality. And that value system is neither sustainable nor productive. And it sure didn’t seem to make those folks at Disneyland happy either.

Now, I assume these people at Disneyland were probably trying to get the most out of their $300-per-day tickets and ride as many rides and eat as many corn dogs as possible. But, to what extent does our relentless pursuit of quantity override our happiness? And when the heck in our lives did we become obsessed with the irrational pursuit of more at all costs?

More, more, more

I looked at my sweaty child around 1:30 PM on day two of our amusement park adventure. “Do you want to go ride that Cars ride?“ He sighed and took another bite of his churro. “No thanks.“

The four-year-old had had enough of the entertainment spectacle. It was too much of a good thing. And, in all his preschool wisdom, he knew that too much of a good thing is not better.

Do you know what was entertaining to my kid at that time instead of the $200 million amusement park ride? His fingers. I watched as he pretended that his left hand was an alligator trying to chomp his sugar-covered birthday treat. Then I looked across at the sensory overload of the Cars ride nearby. He had made his choice. And it was epically telling.

My kid, in so many ways, is so much smarter than me.

Everything in my body told me to snatch away that churro, put him in a stroller, and snap him into that ride so he could have 90 seconds of the unnecessary adrenaline rush that society had taught me to value.

Then I asked myself. Why?

Even I, a few hours earlier, had sat on a log overlooking a floating river boat for a good 15 minutes, content to feel the breeze, watch the people walk by, and simply be. I exhaled. I wondered over the detail of my surroundings. And I cherished the moment. It was beautiful.

But, my reverie was short-lived.

Because my brain told me to move. You’re not being productive. You’re not making the most of your expensive ticket. You’re marveling over bougainvillea when you should visually and degustorily* be consuming everything in this amusement park as fast as possible.

Yes, because the world taught me that its quantity was much more important than my quality.

The world’s quantity over our quality

Don’t even get me started on all of the things in our world that are counter-productive when held up against our innate instincts to choose more over better. Including productivity.

We want to get more done at any cost because society tells us we should. We want to build that business and sell it for billions of dollars in less than five years. We want to rise to the top of our company and conquer whatever industry we are in. And yes, we want to ride as many damn rides as our $300 Disneyland ticket will allow us.

The world teaches us that quantity is better. It isn’t, though. Quantity is simply easier than quality. I have some ideas why:

• Quantity is much more easily measured than quality
• Quantity supports our consumerist society (more toys, more shades of lipstick, more followers, more vehicles)
• Quantity can be more widely appreciated (most people can recognize three is better than two, but Prada vs. Gucci is more of a debate)
• Quality lies only in the eye of the beholder (just ask any New York Times arts critic)

Navigating the quality/quantity continuum

Remember — ideal productivity can only be achieved as a balance of quality and quantity. One is not always better than the other. It may sound like I’m a fan of only quality. In fact, a mix of both quality and quantity is what makes a tasty productivity soup.

But, what do we do when the world shouts QUANTITY and our souls whisper quality as well?

The answer to me is simple. We tell the rest of the world to mind its own beeswax. My fifteen minutes sitting on a log watching a river boat in Disneyland was fantastic. It was peace in the midst of chaos. And it balanced out the quantity of the rest of the day.

Productivity lies where your values dwell. If your company produces only five items per day, they’d better be at a high enough quality that you can charge a high enough price to cover your costs. Conversely, if you’re producing a thousand items per day, quality control might be more difficult. But that might be okay with you. And that is all okay. Just like Goldilocks, every person and company simply needs to decide on their “just right” spot on the quality/quantity continuum.

So, whether you’re a business owner or a couch surfer, deciding your own definitions of quality and quantity before embarking on an endeavor is one of the best things you can do for your productivity. And if you happen to visit Disneyland? Consider taking a moment to pause and take in what you can make a quality experience.

*I understand that degustorily is not a real world, but I’m on a mission to make it so.

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