This is the sixth blog post in a series about my experiences working through the Productivity Field Guide by David Sparks, available in the Plus and the Standard editions.
In this post, we’ll discuss how the maker, manager, and consumer functions work within our roles. Each of these “hats” we wear within roles has different functions, but they all work together to help us become better people as we make progress in our Arete.
Distinguishing Between Roles and the “Hats” of Maker, Manager and Consumer
When David Sparks talks about maker, manager, and consumer, he emphasizes that these are not roles. They are closely related but not the same. They’re more like hats that you wear within specific roles, something we do within roles.
So, for instance, one of my roles is that I’m a teacher. Within that role I’m both a maker and a manager. As a maker in the teacher role, I write blog posts. As a manager in the teacher role, I decide what topic I will write about, when I will write it, and when I will publish it. Unlike the maker who writes the blog post, those are all manager-type decisions.
It’s important to note that these hats don’t fit all roles. For instance, one of my roles is being a husband. Am I a maker, a manager, or a consumer when I’m present with my wife? I’m none of those things. I’m just being a husband. So the “hats” of maker, manager and consumer don’t fit that role.
My sense of the hats’ function is to provide a way to view what we do within our roles from a different angle.
The Maker
What is a maker? A maker might best be defined as the answer you give to the question, “What do you do?” A maker is what you do. As a teacher, I write blog posts. As a giving altruist, I volunteer my time with the National Park Service and annually donate to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital. As a learner, I read different books and watch videos.
The problem with the maker is that for some people, all they want to do is make. They can get so into making that they forget about the other things that must be taken care of. David Sparks talks about being the hippie who likes to make stuff. He likes to make it so much that he doesn’t think about the other things involved. He gets in the flow, and he forgets about managing and consuming.
Bad things happen when you spend all your time making and not managing. Bills aren’t paid, medical and dental appointments aren’t made, and clients aren’t billed. Sometimes, the maker needs to be a manager, too.
The Manager
The manager is the person who sets up the parameters or the boundaries for the maker. The manager is the one who does the planning in the quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily planning sessions. The manager is the one who hyper-schedules and blocks out our daily plan to make sure that we’re moving the needle on getting the things done that are important to us.
The manager can also go to an extreme. Many of us are introverted nerds who tend to do too much managing and not enough making. We like to do administrative tasks, and that’s something that we can get caught up in.
We spend so much time organizing, revising, and perfecting our system that we never get around to making. All planning and organizing, no action.
You want to be a maker but must balance that with an appropriate level of managing and consuming. Not that you want to be primarily a manager or a consumer, but again, to be a maker, you have to have some of the administrative material dealt with.
I’m a maker when I write blog posts. I enjoy teaching by writing. However, I need the manager to decide what topic I’ll write about, when I’ll write it, and when I’ll publish it.
This is part six of a series I’m writing on working through the Productivity Field Guide. If the manager had not planned to do this series and what the topics would be each week, it’s likely that I, the maker, would never have created it. The manager’s job is to clear the path so the maker can get to work.
The Consumer
The consumer is the person who isn’t managing or making but instead just consuming. “Then there is the side of you that isn’t managing or making but instead just consuming. The consumer could read a book full of ideas that could change her life. (Hopefully, this book can do that!) The consumer could also be watching some reality TV that may not change her life, but gives her brain some much-needed down time.” David Sparks, Productivity Field Guide.
We all consume and usually don’t think about it much. That’s to our detriment. Consumption can help you make yourself better, or it can make things worse.
1. The “Junk Food” Consumer
There are different kinds of consumers. The first is what Sparks refers to as the junk food consumer. “Too often, we stumble into consumption. We watch whatever the algorithm spits up for us. That’s a mistake. You should take agency over your consumption. There is great programming available to you. There are amazing books yet unread.” David Sparks, Productivity Field Guide
Many things are vying for our attention in our modern world, most of which are not worth our attention. The problem is that we often get caught up in the hype and the marketing, and we spend our time thinking about things that don’t matter or following unimportant rabbits down holes.
We watch a YouTube video that would be helpful for our making, and then, of course, the algorithm presents us with 20 other videos that are somehow related, and we get sucked up in watching all of those other videos as well. Before we know it, instead of using the time block we’ve designated to work on something important, we’ve spent all our time consuming junk that we don’t need and didn’t plan for.
We need to remember that “garbage in equals garbage out.” As Marcus Aurelius said in his Meditations, “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”
We need to carefully select what fills our minds, not let advertisers and our mind’s desire for distraction make that choice.
2. The Intentional Consumer
We need to be intentional about what we consume. We need to find good resources to help us make good decisions.
We don’t want to be 90% consumers. It’s okay to consume to learn about something we want to do or gain a new skill, but at some point, we must transform that into being makers.
That’s not to say we can’t use consumption for relaxation and entertainment. But even then, we need to make intentional choices about what kind of consumption builds us up and supports us and what kind tears us down.
“We need to adopt the perspective of a curator, stepping back from the raging river and starting to make intentional decisions about what information we want to fill our minds.” Tiago Forte, Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential.
How Do You Use the Concepts of Maker, Manager, and Consumer?
Your goal is to find an appropriate balance of maker, manager, and consumer for you. How much time you spend wearing each hat can only be determined by you since it’s personal to your desires and the kind of work you do.
Sparks has recorded the amount of time he spends wearing each hat to quantify the balance of maker, manager, and creator. He said he tends to want to spend all of his time as a maker, but then he neglects the manager, and things get messed up very quickly, like dropping the ball on other aspects of his work.
He’s found a rough percentage in each hat that works best for him. He likes to keep tabs on that by roughly timing how much time he spends in each category.
We could do the same thing. We can use digital helpers like the Timery app to track our time. If you make a daily plan showing activities and time spent, you could keep a running rough total of your time as a maker, manager, and consumer.
Having objective information about your time as a maker, manager, and consumer can be beneficial. We often do an abysmal job of estimating how much time we spend wearing each hat.
Or, if your schedule is not too busy or complicated, and you don’t perceive any problems due to imbalance, you could do as I do and just be aware of which of the hats you’re using at a particular time and find a balance that works for you.
When you do quarterly, monthly, and weekly reviews, you might also determine that your balance of maker, manager, and consumer is off. For instance, if you realize that you’ve been missing important deadlines, that’s an indication that you’re likely neglecting the manager role.
If you decide you’re spending too much time being a maker, a manager, or a consumer, you might want to time those things. Make conscious decisions about how you want to spend your time and plan your time to do so.
Conclusion: Achieving Productivity and Balance as a Maker, Manager, and Consumer
Balancing the roles of maker, manager, and consumer is essential for productivity and success. By understanding the functions of each hat and finding a personal balance that works for you, you can effectively navigate your responsibilities and achieve your goals.
Take the time to assess how you allocate your time to each role and make adjustments as needed. Remember, being intentional about your actions and choices as a maker, manager, and consumer can lead to greater fulfillment and progress in your endeavors.
Take the first step towards a more balanced approach today.