The dirty Kiwi secret we can't ignore

In 2020 I wrote an article about how kiwis love to look at debt as a solution rather than productivity. I was talking about this in a credit bubble with cheap debt so people didn't seem to be engaged.

If time = money, why don't we realise that productivity = time, which equals money? Why don't we teach people to decrease the time something takes or improve our life by taking back time?

Instead, we have been conditioned to reach for more debt. BNPL, personal finance, car finance, credit cards, payday loans etc. There are so many credit solutions to help us spend and consume. These all cost us our precious time to recover and pay back.

I see it all the time in business where people extend their poor performance by taking on more debt which gives them a longer runway to continue to perform poorly and not address the actual issue or fix the true cause.

Thinking about productivity is just not what we teach in this country so it is no surprise that we are behind as a nation.

When I was starting out in business I noticed that kiwis suck at it and they don’t learn it or think about it so I thought maybe I could create an unfair advantage by focusing on this.

It was really working and I thought that there must be ways to use this in my personal life too.

Focusing on productivity has massively improved the quality of my life because put simply, we get our time back or we get more out of every hour.?

You know that we all have limited time each day. Why would we not try to maximise its value?

I often study productive people and people who get A LOT done and figure out how they’re getting more out of each hour. Their success leaves clues.

I have been keeping an eye on the new head economist for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand called Paul Conway. He has been doing a lot of media since joining the bank and he likes to discuss productivity.

I saw Paul say that New Zealanders work about 10% more hours per person than workers in the average OECD economy.

Kiwis also produce about 20% less output than workers in the average OECD economy.?

Unfortunately, this is part of why average incomes and wealth in NZ are both significantly below the OECD average.

You should read the above 3 sentences again because it is really important.

We can look at this negatively or realise we have a lot of room to improve. And that second train of thought is how I uncovered that I could improve my life and get further ahead.

I discovered I just need to not think like a lot of other people and I could potentially become more productive with my time.

Most kiwis were not going to be my teachers. But I am surrounded by most kiwis. So the answer is to watch them and often do the opposite.

Let me give you an example.

Last week I was travelling for work and wanted to stop for a drink. I got one from the petrol station fridge and there were 2 massive lines waiting to pay for petrol and order treats & snacks that the petrol stations are now masters at selling you.

There were also 2 self-serve machines. No one was using them. My business partner pointed at them and I got to skip the line and save a stack of time.

You beauty. Using technology to avoid down time and get more out of an hour.

MOST people will just copy other people and do as they do. Because their minds aren’t thinking of ‘productivity’, ‘speed’, or ‘how can I value my time’.

Why was NO ONE using the self serve and prepared to wait in line? Often the technology is there but we miss it and don’t see it.

When I started my accounting business I got so frustrated with the back and forth ‘are you free at 9am’, ‘no sorry I have hot yoga until 9.30 so could do 10.45? But I do have latte frothing lessons at 11.30’.?

Seriously is this my life? Back and forth trying to book a phone call?

There must be a better way. Ahhh there is, people just don’t use it.?

Technology where I send a link to someone to book a time into my calendar which suits them and suits me. They can only book times where I am free and not meeting with others or unavailable.

Less friction, more speed, more technology, more output per hour.

My industry is now cloud based so we can work online. We got rid of sending paper sets of accounts and signing them physically from day 1. You have to accept the change and embrace it and train to be different.

I once heard the saying ‘you have no idea how productive humans can be when they turn their mind to it’ and I thought huh what does that mean and who taught them to think like that?

It is not until you start to look for more productive ways to live that you then understand how much easier it can make your life.

As a general rule, saving time that I don’t want to waste has made my life better.

You may think that this email has nothing to do with money but think about what Paul said: Kiwis work more and produce less than workers in the average OECD economy. Consequently; lower wages and lower wealth.?

So this REALLY matters and there is a huge opportunity here because if you can put 2 hours back into your week through tidying up unproductive time, what could you do with it?

Chase extra income, improve your health, get more sleep, learn more, become more valuable? That’s your choice.?

Activity

- Where do you waste time every week (analyse it)? I.e. waiting for the computer to restart every day instead of getting a new computer

- How can you target putting 2 hours back into every week? (Over 104 hours a year)

- How can you get more output per hour of time? I.e. educating yourself / learning instead of escapism (socials/sh!tflix for the sake of it)

- Do notifications distract you and take you down a rabbit hole? Turn some off. I.e. EVERY news app.

- There are so many small things you can think about when it comes to productivity that will make your life better. Turn your mind to finding these and fixing them.

Remember, time is our most precious asset, protect it and use it wisely. A lot of people who start making good money look to buy their time back - that should teach us something.?

20 year olds (+ plenty of other ages) want to be millionaires. Millionaires want to be 20 again.

Be productive,

Luke

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Did you know:?we have a productivity commission in NZ. In 2021 they said kiwis work longer hours: 34.2 hours per week compared with 31.9 hours per week in other OECD countries.

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