The test of productivity — the garlic peeling technique

The measurement of productivity has been in question for longer than we know. How to correctly measure the term used so widely across all industries, is a puzzle that many still seek to debug. If we correctly measure the coined terminology of “productivity”, we will not only be able to solve issues of how we should plan an organisation’s vision but also, the aspects to look forward to in a person while onboarding them into our missions.

The widely used notion that “experience” is a sign of a more productive person is questioned when we see the attrition in our industries especially from the higher levels of management. Also, bringing an experienced person into the team does help in justifying the situation that he/she might have faced ups and downs in their career and have lived to speak of better days, but even an individual new to the industry can make such decisions, may it being sheer luck or better and clearer way of looking into the problem at hand. However, one’s zeal to solve issues cannot confirm that the person will be doing the same thing again and again over the years. How do we actually solve the problem then?

I have tried loads of methods to tackle this problem myself — from reading productivity books to following people on YouTube who claim to have solved the problem of productivity crisis within a system. But when it comes to real-world problems, it is quite difficult to adhere to due to differences in the environment, geography, and work we do in our day-to-day lives. I feel the best way we can understand how productive a person can be, can be analysed by the way they tackle the problem at hand. How deeply and how far the problem can be broken down before we actually execute an action toward it? We often reach a timeline to solve an issue based on the outcome, but the actual time taken to solve it is an accumulation of all the smaller things required to reach that destination. One’s mind should be able to comprehend chunking up a problem statement into smaller ones before even beginning work on it. And the most wonderful thing about when these smaller things are brought together into one eventually, one realizes the journey from which they began and how they solved the issue.

To understand how a human mind functions, I quite often see, what is the best way it can be tested to understand whether a mind is high-functioning or not. How one can divide the problem into pieces, collect it all at the end, and provide a result in a shorter time and the least time and effort spent on it. The best activity I found to denote this is how one is peeling garlic. The way they do it signifies how they see the problem at hand because no matter how they reach the goal, the outcome will always be the same — getting the dish ready!

Peeling garlic is a tough task in itself. It requires breaking the entire garlic piece into each of its lobes and then peeling these lobes to get the clove to be used. Now, if the garlic contains more lobes, the task not only becomes tedious, but also boring. The skin of the lobes sticks to your fingers making it more difficult to maintain consistency as one progresses through the task. To add to the toughness, more than one garlic peeling looks like a behemoth!

I did a few experiments with how I looked into these tasks. My aim has always been to reduce the effort used to complete the task in the least time. Jotting down some of the observations-

1. Breaking the lobes of all the garlic at once — Peeling off all the lobes from both the pieces of the garlic at the beginning, and then peeling all of the cloves one by one. This often caused fatigue, as I needed to keep doing the same actions over and over again and my productivity during the end of the process reduced considerably. Doing the same thing over and over again for a long time causes fatigue within our mind and the speed at quick we execute the action on the first attempt does not follow through till the end. The best way to tackle the problem is to change the task or the problem statement so that the mind thinks about something else before the same task is repeated. We can relate this to our day-to-day lives often. We often feel bored doing the same thing over and over again, every day, especially when we are not appreciated or communicated how far we are from achieving the goal. This fatigue can add up to burnout, which leads to a change in the mood of the individual, be it being too irritated or claiming the problem appears too big when it’s a minor task that needs to be done. The true essence of productivity is variation. Keep taking up multiple tasks and time-bound when you are thinking of solving the issue.
2. Washing my hand after completing one garlic before I move on to another — Celebrations are necessary for progress! A break after a part of the problem is solved is often missed by our generation. This small celebration when a part of the problem is solved gives a boost to the mind to complete the subsequent tasks with ease. I achieved this, but washing my hands to let go of the skin of the garlic stuck on my fingers so that I could prepare for the next one with 100% dedication. Also, the little walk back to the kitchen prevents me from feeling the fatigue that I have accumulated over time. Same as in life. Success is an accumulation of many smaller actions that we do every day. When we stop seeing the result, we tend to stop, thinking that this is not working out for us. Adding a kidney bean to a jar every day you hit the gym does the same thing. Although the jar doesn’t get filled up significantly every day, it reminds us that we did something towards the ultimate goal!
3. Taking out all the lobes of the garlic at once — This gives me an approximation of how much I need to put in to get the job done. Without a goal set in mind, we often feel lost. The direction in which one is moving while solving a problem often becomes vague when not properly guided. Although the ability to break a problem into chunks is necessary, so is the ability to bring all the results back together is! Tweaking the result is a sign that we do remember that we have the ultimate result set in our minds. I think this answers why there are so many requirement changes when developing a product from scratch. Analytical view on human behaviour is a treasure that hardly few have tapped into. This power paves the way to a successful business, gives it purpose, and often does not require individuals to take a bet on how we want to aspire to the growth of an organisation.
4. Not rushing into peeling the garlic while the dish is half cooked — Rushing into the tasks or even sub-tasks causes the outcome of the task not to adhere to the result we are expecting. My wife often complains, that in a hurry, I peel the garlic half-heartedly. It is not my intention to do it that way but to push for the timeline, I tend to make mistakes even in the task I am so good at. This is also true in our case of solving a problem. Timelines should always be set by individuals who understand the sub-tasks a problem is broken down into the effort required to do it the “correct way”. I often end up peeling the garlic the second time even after my mind has registered the task to be done causing me to question myself and my abilities. This is also true when you are responsible for a team, keeping the morale high with reminding them why the task is important for growth. We often forget that the ultimate goal is a good-tasting dish!

We can coin the term “productivity” using just a simple day-to-day activity as peeling garlic. Visionaries are those, who not only see the outcome of the task at hand but also see the smaller steps required to reach that goal. Success and results can take days, months, or even years, but it is always the accumulation of smaller actions that leads to industry-changing outcomes!

Should we make peeling garlic a must-step in the hiring process? 😉