Rethinking productivity, again.

an invitation to a workshop for the price of two London pints, or 2 coffees and a cake.

I’m sitting down to finalise my slides for tomorrow’s Rethinking Productivity workshop, and honestly, I’ve never appreciated my own advice more. (Metaphorical) buses really do come all at once, and right now, it’s my systems and structures that deserve credit for how (worryingly??) calm and collected I feel.

If I’m being real, as a recovering perfectionist and an overzealous enthusiast who throws herself wholeheartedly into everything, I’m in a constant state of rethinking productivity and how it looks in my life. I find myself speeding up (hello habit stacking) only to start slowing down (hello mindfulness and morning pages), riding those waves and existing in mini and macro seasons is how I currently understand things. It’s always expanding. I’m constantly refining my systems and workflows based on my evolving understanding of myself and how my brain works!

Through it all, finding ways to translate that into tools and practices that can support others is something I really love.

Last January, I hosted my first ever in-person workshop. It was about goal setting (how to set goals that are kind, aligned, and deeply rooted in the why and the how, not just the what) and six people signed up. Two came. We met in a Waterstones café because I couldn’t afford a venue, and I’d spent £30 printing personalised workbooks for everyone. It was a three-hour session, but I’d planned about six hours’ worth of content. Unsurprisingly, we only got halfway through. One of the attendees ended up reaching out for 1:1 coaching, and we worked together for most of 2024. A delight.

At the end of last year, I started a conversation on Instagram about productivity. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone. I’ve always been known for being organised, hard-working, and efficient. And unlike so much of so many online personas, this was 100% real. It started when I was a project-obsessed kid with highlighted to-do lists, morphed into a spiderweb of spreadsheets at university while juggling a degree, full-time work, and my own business, and now? I work in Youth Justice, run a business, and have a life (by my ‘in bed at 9pm’ standards!!).

But starting that conversation made me nervous. I didn’t want to feed into the hustle culture machine—the 5 a.m. CEO routines (you’ll never see me up that early unless I’m catching a plane), toxic productivity, or the relentless glorification of being busy. Productivity has been hijacked. It’s been reduced to doing more, faster, squeezing every minute out of your day for tasks that are “productive” in a capitalist sense: making money or setting yourself up to make more.

I’m really not convinced that that’s what productivity means.

At its heart, productivity seems to be about doing things with thoughtfulness, intention, focus, and efficiency. It’s about balance, sustainable routines, and holistic health. It’s about creating a life that prioritises what matters most.

So I started the conversation. I realised I hadn’t been sharing a huge part of my life and learnings. My questions, discoveries, and revelations about how to live a life that’s both productive and balanced. A life rooted in the seven pillars of health - a life that makes space for rest, play, and creativity without sidelining the big goals. It’s not about choosing one thing over the other; it’s about finding a way to hold many things, sometimes lightly, sometimes tightly.

It’s deeply personal for me. As a child and teenager, I had lots of challenges presented to me by my body and mind. I know the frustration of wanting to do everything but being able to do nothing—and the exhaustion of doing everything until your body decides you can now do nothing. Over the past decade, I’ve been learning what productivity, balance, and health mean to me, it’s shaped and held me, and allowed me to experience life in ways that at one point in my life seemed totally impossible.

Funnily enough, as I filmed and edited the aforementioned videos about productivity just before Christmas, I found myself drawn to three books like a magnet:

• Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

• Do Pause by Robert Poynton

• How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Between this reading list and a myriad of other materials I began unpacking the psychology and the science, the sociology and the politics of productivity. My concept of productivity evolved. I rethought it. Again, and again. Productivity seems to be something fluid, evolving, and personal.

I shared these thoughts with those who I have the pleasure of coaching, as I walked them through end of year reviews and goal setting strategy sessions, and I shared these thoughts with Aimee and Lily from Candid Studios.

They’ve just founded the Candid Club, which hosts quarterly workshops featuring all kinds of fascinating people sharing insights on a smorgasbord of topics. They kindly invited me to lead one of these workshops, open to the public as well as the Club, on ‘Rethinking Productivity,’ and I’m very very excited to be doing so tomorrow evening.

I’ll be discussing my evolving approach to productivity—one that helps you focus on what truly matters. It’s not about doing more; it’s about doing things more intentionally. It’s about creating a life centred around sustainable growth, creativity, health, and joy. With limited tickets available, we’ve made sure that the workshop will remain intimate and interactive, despite being online. I’m so excited to flip the script on productivity. This isn’t about aesthetic routines or the buzzword “balance.” It’s about building a life that nourishes you while helping you work smarter and avoid burnout.

If you’d like to join me, here’s the plan:

✨ Rethinking Productivity for the Life You Want ✨
🗓 January 22nd, 7 PM - 8 PM
📍 Online (your cosy corner)

Here’s what we’ll cover (and yes, I’m still wondering how we’ll fit it all into an hour, leave it with me):

• The seven pillars of health and how they support sustainable productivity.

• Daily and weekly plans that actually work for you (buh bye burnout).

• Simple, practical hacks to spark creativity and focus without adding stress.

I want you to go away with:

• A clear plan to integrate into your daily life.

• Tools to redefine success in a way that prioritises YOU.

• A renewed sense of energy and excitement for what’s next.

• Accountability pals who’ll cheer you on.

Let’s set the tone for 2025 together. You in?

Click here to grab your spot—just £15 (two pints and a £1 tip). Spaces are limited, and it’s going to be worth it.

And anything I don’t fit into the workshop, I’ll have to work out how and where to share!

If any of the above resonated with you or piqued your interest, I’d love to see you there.

Love Phoebe x