The productivity myth that’s holding UK leaders back

Productivity isn’t something any of us has fully worked out – including me. It’s a myth to think anyone has figured it all out. More often than I’d like to admit, I’m staring at a to-do list with no idea where to start.

The mistake many of us make – including me – is this: we have big ambitions and grand visions, but day after day what truly shapes the outcome is not the goal itself, it’s the tiny, repeated actions that seem so insignificant we barely notice them.

A phrase that kept circling in my head as I planned this piece comes from the American writer James Clear: “You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you sink to the level of your habits.”

So, despite being far from perfect myself, let me unpack why that matters and share some of the conversations from The High Performance Podcast that have helped me rethink how I show up.

To put things into perspective, a recent study found that UK workers report just 2 hours 53 minutes of actual productivity in a working day. Despite all the technology at our fingertips, research shows we still struggle with fundamentals such as habit design.

While tech can help, it won’t solve the issue for us. In fact, national productivity has fallen, with private-sector output per hour dropping below pre-Covid levels.

Most of us are ambitious but struggling with productivity, which means our big visions need scaffolding made of small, consistent actions.

We had former doctor-turned-productivity expert Ali Abdaal on the show, who said: “Motivation clearly isn’t enough. And telling people to simply ‘feel more motivated’ isn’t just unhelpful, it’s potentially harmful, contributing to the sense of paralysis that causes procrastination.”

He perfectly captures that feeling of staring at a blank screen, waiting for inspiration — and nothing happens.

Here’s what I learnt: you can’t wait for motivation, you create momentum. How? With action.

Over the years, the key lesson for me has been this: start. Starting improves your mood, gets endorphins flowing and leads to motivation.

Here’s another gem from former footballer and now manager, Robin van Persie: “It doesn’t matter how big or small the tasks are. It is about following the process – controlling the things I can.”

I’ve written that on a Post-it note near my desk. Because when I procrastinate, it’s usually because something feels too big or too undefined. The antidote? Pick the next small step.

Phil Neville, the former Manchester United footballer, reminded my co-host Damian Hughes and me on the podcast that: “High performance is doing the best you can, where you are, with what you have got.”

We live by that now. It’s written on the walls of the High Performance production office. To us it means being kind to yourself, but also not waiting for everything to align. Simply do the best you can right now.

Hughes puts it like this: “Frame your values as non-negotiables. It removes ambiguity from your decision-making.”

What are your values? Did you ever align them with productivity?

On stage recently, I said: “I’ve spent the past 20 or 25 years seeing resilient people outperform talented people by a rate of 100 to one. Just because something is hard for you, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad for you.”

It’s a reminder that the habitual “hard work” of showing up and grinding out the unglamorous tasks often matters more than the flashy breakthrough.

So, how can these lessons become a toolkit for you? Here’s what I’ve learnt to do:

• Define the next smallest step. Not “write the new chapter”, but “open the document and write a heading”
• Build habit anchors. After my morning walk, I sit at the desk and start. No decision required. Just show up – especially when you don’t feel like it
• Commit to time-keeping. Block a start time and a finish time. Don’t wait for inspiration, just start the clock
• Reflect each evening. Did today’s habit align with your values? If not, adjust
• Embrace micro-breaks. Research shows the most productive workers use 75-minute sprints before resting. I’m experimenting with 50-75 minutes of focused work, followed by a short reset. Richard Osman told us he only writes for two hours a day and not a minute more

I hope that’s helpful. You might be expecting a rallying cry or a powerful, inspiring quote but the truth is, it really does come down to systems.

So if you’re trying to raise your game – in your business, your personal growth or your relationships – remember: you won’t rise to the level of the goal you dream about. You’ll end up stuck at the level of the habits you’ve adopted.

Wishing you luck – and remember that just because I know this stuff, it doesn’t make me perfect. Far from it.

Now – back to my own bad habits.