True confession: I think I have a mild case of OCD. In my case I’m obsessed with productivity. I feel the need to be doing something “productive” almost all the time. Which leads to lots of multi-tasking.

As a self-employed person, this actually comes in handy. Today, circumstances were such that I had to take my daughter to her triathlon clinic. I considered taking the laptop to the pool to do some work while she swam.

But then I starting thinking about the beautifully lush chip trail around the JDF fields just behind the swimming pool and how much I enjoy running on it. I decided that rather than work, I would go for a run. It was a tough decision and I ended up taking the Blackberry so I could do some work during the 10 minutes I waited for her.

Result: I had a wonderful run. I enjoyed watching the last 10 minutes of her swim. I had a nice conversation with one of the other fathers and then came home to a delicious dinner. Then after putting the children to bed, to my amazement, I had the most productive few hours of work. I was in the zone. I felt refreshed, energized and right as rain.

So the moral of the story for me is that, sometimes it pays to take a break from “productivity” to do something enjoyable or physically stimulating. That two-hour break during what I consider to be prime production hours, resulted in a more productive and enjoyable evening.

What do you do to boost productivity?