What 40+ Years of Productivity Work Has Actually Taught Me

What if everything you’ve been told about productivity… is missing the point?

In this eye-opening episode of The Efficiency Advantage, Juli Shulem shares what 40+ years of working with entrepreneurs, executives, and high performers has actually taught her and it’s not another system, tool, or hack. 

Here’s the truth: productivity isn’t about time. It’s about decision-making, energy, and removing the friction that keeps you stuck. If you’re busy all day but still feel behind, overwhelmed, or constantly second-guessing yourself. This episode will hit home.

Juli breaks down why complex systems fail, why motivation is unreliable, and why trying to “do more” is actually the problem. Instead, she reveals a simpler, more effective approach built on clarity, structure, and small, consistent actions that actually move the needle.

You’ll learn how to reduce overwhelm, stop overthinking, and build systems that support you instead of draining you—so you can finally follow through on what matters most.

If you’re tired of feeling busy but not productive, and ready for a smarter, simpler way to get results. This episode will change how you think about productivity forever.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Are you ready to finally break free from overwhelm, procrastination, and burnout? If you're ready to focus on what truly matters and create momentum to reach and exceed your goals in business and in life, then this podcast is for you. Welcome to the Efficiency Advantage, the podcast where clarity meets action and purpose that fuels your progress. So here's world-class productivity expert and your host, Coach Julie.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Hello and welcome to the Efficiency Advantage Podcast. I'm Julie Shulam, your host, and today this is what 40 plus years of productivity work has actually taught me. This episode is a little different than the past ones. First of all, it's the 20th. So thank you for being here. And I hope you have listened to all the podcasts leading up to today. But if you haven't, you can still go back and listen. So today is different because I'm not gonna talk about a new system. I'm not gonna give you a new tool, and I'm not going to give you a list of tips and ideas. What I am giving you is what 40 plus years of working with productivity, organization, behavior, and human performance has actually taught me. Because after decades of doing this work with entrepreneurs, executives, and individuals around the world, I can tell you this: most productivity advice misses the point. So today I'm giving you what really matters. The first and probably most important lesson: productivity is not about time. It never was. If it were about time, then the busiest people would be the most productive. And you may have noticed they're not. You might even be living proof of that. If it were about time, then having more hours in the day would solve your problems, but it doesn't. What productivity is really about is decision making and energy allocation. Every single day you are making hundreds, if not thousands, of micro decisions. Where to start, what to avoid, what to finish, which email to respond to, what you can eat, what to ignore. I'm sure you can add countless decisions to this list that you deal with every single day. And when those decisions become exhausting, unclear, or overwhelming, you don't lose time. You lose momentum. Now here's something I've seen over and over again. The more clever or creative you are, the easier it is to get stuck. Why? Because these people see more options, they consider more variables, and they anticipate more and unique outcomes. And that often leads to overthinking things, delaying decisions, and then second guessing the decisions they have made. Now, this is especially true for professionals with ADHD or those who have ADHD-like tendencies. So when someone says, I don't understand why I can't just get this done, well, what they're really saying is I have too many pathways in my brain and no clear entry point. And no amount of try harder is going to fix that. And in my experience, someone who is told to just try harder ends up feeling less competent and has lower confidence and self-esteem. And then things kind of go south quickly. The more complex a system is, the more likely it is to fail. I've seen people create beautiful planners, intricate digital systems, color-coded everything. Now, you know I like color coding things, but not everything needs to be that much, you know, done that to that degree. And then what happens? They abandon them within days sometimes. Why? Because the brain, especially an overwhelmed one, doesn't want complexity. If you are spending more time creating and managing a system that is supposed to save you time, then that is not a good system. It needs to be simple, easy to use, and free up your time, not take more of it away from getting things done. Your brain wants simple. Let your brain use, or use your brain, I should say, for creating and thinking and deciding, designing all these wonderful things, not for using a system. Your system is not working if you're it requires too many steps, too many decisions, and too many places to look just to find it. It's not a system. That's a burden. I came up with a saying that applies to many, many areas of life around burdens. Here it goes. If it's not servicing you, it's burdening you, so let it go. That can be an object, a system, or anything really. It's either part of the problem or part of the solution. Keep those things in your life that are part of the solution, and you'll be far more productive on many, many levels. Now let's talk about motivation, because this is where a lot of people go wrong. Motivation is inconsistent. It always has been. If you're waiting to feel motivated to take action, you'll always be behind. At least that's what I've seen in my clients. The people who are consistently productive, they don't rely on motivation. They rely on structure, clarity, and predecided actions. They've already removed the question: should I do this? There are so many times I just don't want to do something. There is very little, if any, motivation to do something. Sometimes, in particular, my workouts, for example, in the morning. That comes to mind right away. I am rarely motivated to do my exercise routine, but it's on my schedule, it's planned. My routines are created in advance for me. So there's clarity of what I am to do. And I have a system so that I don't have to think or decide. I just go through the motions and get started. And once I'm started, hey, I'm I'm good. I'm highly motivated to finish. And I've even built in a little reward system while I'm exercising because that's what keeps me doing this. I get to either listen to a podcast or an audiobook or even watch something on Netflix while I'm exercising. Matter of fact, it's the only time I allow myself to do those things. I have to be exercising in order to do them. And that's that's motivating in and of itself. But again, that's a system. That's something I put in place. I don't have to think about it. But again, remember this there is structure around the entire experience. I simply go through the motions to start. Think about something you can perhaps put some system around, something that you tend to push off and procrastinate on. See if that helps. Let me know. Another critical lesson overwhelm is not a character flaw. It's a signal. It tells you one of three things. Either you have too much coming in into your into your brain, you don't have a clear plan, or your system can't support your workload. But instead of addressing those, people tend to internalize it. They think I should be able to handle this. No, you should have a system that handles this for you. I can't tell you how many amazing and successful people, even I work with that are in serious, overwhelmed states when they come to me. Once I was working with a guy in tech, and I wrongly assumed he would have amazing systems in place for his tasks. I was wrong. So much would come to him from multiple sources that added to his list of tasks, and he had no system for keeping track of everything or anything, to be honest. But as I coached him to consider some options and I shared some ideas, the light bulb bulb, I will never get that word out, the light bulb moment occurred, and he came up with a brilliant system that manages all the areas he was overwhelmed by. It made his days so much easier and truly manageable. Now, here's something most people never consider. Productivity problems are usually friction problems. Now, friction looks like too many steps to start, too many decisions to make, too much effort to access what you need. And the brain responds to friction by avoiding. You've probably heard of avoidance behavior. We've all done it at one time or another, you know, scrolling on our phones, doing a task that is neither urgent nor important, calling a friend instead of working on that project that is looming. I bet you have a wonderful list of your own avoidance behavior mechanisms. And this avoidance isn't because you're lazy, but because your brain is efficient. That sounds off, right? But no, listen, it will always choose the path of least resistance. So the real question becomes: where's the friction in your day? How can you reduce it? And more importantly, what is the first step that you can take right now to make that happen? Over 40 plus years, I've seen this pattern repeated. Like people try to fix everything all at once, they overhaul their systems, they commit to doing everything differently and better, and within a week, they're back where they started. Why? Because intensity is not sustainable. Consistency is. Think of dieting to lose weight. If you've ever tried to diet and did something different to lose a lot of weight really fast, and then as soon as you stopped that magic bullet practice, the weight kind of came back. It's not sustainable. If it's something that you are doing that you're not going to be able to continue doing. If it's just this intense burst of changing how you're doing things, it's not going to necessarily be sustainable. And you'll have a hard time sticking to the process that actually works long term. So consider this have small repeatable actions, predictable systems, and manageable changes. You don't do everything at once. That's what creates long-term results are these three things: small repeatable actions, predictable systems, and manageable changes. Now, when coaching someone who needs multiple systems overhauled, we start with one. And it is the one that pretty much everything else hinges on. My job is to deep dive to find the root issues and help my client put a new way of acting or thinking in place in order to create a method that is consistent and sustainable. Those are the systems that last and work long term. They have to be simple and easy to use. I've got systems I've put into place decades ago, and I have had clients who contact me and say, you know that system you taught me 20 some odd years ago? It still works. I'm still using it. That's a sign of a good system. Now the last one is rarely talked about. And that is that productivity is not about getting more done. Yeah, I said it. It's about trusting yourself to follow through. When you trust yourself, you stop overthinking, you stop renegotiating, and you stop avoiding. And that changes everything. Because now you don't need to convince yourself to act. You just act. So if I were to distill my 40 plus years of productivity work into one idea, it would be this. Productivity is not about doing more. It's about creating a system that allows you to do what matters consistently, clearly, and without unnecessary friction. If you're feeling stuck right now, it's not because you're incapable. It's because something in your system isn't working. And that's fixable. I hope that thinking some of these things through that I've said gave you some new things to think about. I want to thank you very much for being here and invite you to share this podcast with others. My goal is to touch the lives of at least half a million people, which isn't that many. But if each of you share this podcast with just two people, and then those share with just two people, well then I can be helping millions of people, and that is what this is all about. Thank you for being here again, and as always, have a productive day.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

So that's it for today's episode of the Efficiency Advantage. Head on over to Apple Podcasts iTunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a private VIP day with Coach Julie herself. Be sure to head on over to theefficiencyadvantage.com and pick up a free copy of Coach Julie's gift. And join us on the next episode.