In a recent trawl across productivity writings – papers, blogs and so – which I find useful both just to keep in touch and occasionally inspire me to new thought – I came across the following..
Decide on a plan, get your supplies and ready your team. This is how you set yourself up to take advantage of the Virgo full moon of productivity.
This was in a respected publication. I was appalled. Not by the advice, of course. Though it may be a bit over-simplified, the ‘plan and prepare’ message is essentially sound. But to couple that with astrology, suggesting that the alignment of planetary objects somehow affects what you should do to improve productivity, is at best inappropriate. I am a scientist by background and believe that to make such claims requires evidence of causality.
As a scientist, I am prepared to accept that there are things we cannot explain. But to invent pseudo-science and claim causality where none exists is simply fraudulent.
Productivity improvement can sometimes be as much of an art as a science – after all we are dealing with human beings … and they can be unpredictable and illogical … but one has to ‘dig deeper’ to understand the psychology of individuals and groups – not assume that there are external, controlling forces.