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Why Productivity is Important for Inner Peace
So many people mistake productivity for hard work, stress, and overwhelm but it doesn’t have to be that way. The root word of productivity is produce and that is not what most people are actually doing when they claim to be productive.
Have you ever met one of those superhuman career moms that are totally put together? She always has tons of energy, she always smiles, and she’s being friendly and present, and then wondered, how the heck does she pull it off? When at the same time you feel overloaded, wiped out, and disconnected from your spouse, your kids, your tasks at work, and most of all yourself…
If you recognize that feeling, don’t worry!
It might sound counterintuitive but the answer is productivity – consciously directed productivity.
To reach the point of inner peace there are a few habits you need to implement. This does not mean extra work for you but rather a replacement of your old habits.
Know what you want
The first step is to be crystal clear on your goals and your dreams. In order to be productive, you first need to know exactly what you are working towards. This might seem obvious but I have seen so many people undervalue the importance of clarity.
Surprisingly many people don’t know what they want, but you can bet they know what they don’t want and more often than not that is how people respond when I ask them what they want in life.
The thing is though you get what you focus on so you better keep your focus on what you want, know, and can.
Imagine you called the local pizza place and said “I’d like to order a pizza, I don’t want pineapple”. You would never reach the finish line and on top, the pizza guy would have to make guesses between all the things you didn’t mention and chances are that you would end up with a pizza you didn’t like. The same thing goes for life. Put in an order for what you want and be crystal clear about it.
Figure out what is the most important goal for you and then ask yourself why it is so important. Your “why” needs to be really strong because that’s what’s going to get you to push through when things get tough. Your “why” is your anchor.
Once you know the what and the why it is time to look at the how.
Limit distractions
There are two kinds of distractions. The emotional and the physical.
The physical distractions are things like social media, news, and your inbox.
Emotional distractions are your limiting beliefs that stop your progress in a given area. These are a little harder to recognize when they occur. It could be that you face a challenge in your work and all of a sudden you recall somebody saying that nobody can make a living off xxx and you should get a real job. It’s most likely the subconscious part of your brain but it will show up as “Oh, I don’t know if I can do this”, “maybe I should just go back to my old job” or “It’s just too much”.
I don’t know the words that run through your head at times like this, but you do. And it can stop you in your tracks for hours, days, or sometimes even weeks. It’s important to be aware of this because it’s a sneaky enemy that will rob your self-confidence. So when you recognize this villain say to yourself “I believe in my own ability to figure things out”. Looking back, you have all the proof you need to make this argument. You have been through a lot already and you are still here, you have handled worse and you got through. You do have the power to do this as well. Then ask yourself “what is the next right step of action I can take right now?”
To limit the physical distractions simply create focus blocks of 50 minutes. A focus block means that you dedicate that time to a particular task and nothing else. You do not scroll Facebook, reply to emails, or do laundry. You focus on that one thing. Have 1 or 2 blocks of time per day to respond to other people. Unless you work in customer support you don’t need to reply to everybody within 30 seconds. I have tested this by letting people wait a whole 4 hours before responding and nobody died. Then create a focus block for your work
Say no – it’s okay
Warren Buffet said: “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything”
The reason it is paramount that you learn this is that we as humans way too often live our lives based on other people’s agendas or expectations. We handle inbound first. Someone asks us to help and we bend over backward to juggle, reschedule, and replan our entire day because we want to be nice people. We want to be seen as helpful, as good friends, and as someone, others can count on. We feel like we have to.
The problem with this approach is that we end up feeling overloaded and unfulfilled and if you are really hardcore you even use it to bang yourself in the head about how you didn’t accomplish what you planned today. You end the day feeling like you have been running around like a headless chicken and accomplished nothing more than putting out fires.
Knowing exactly what you want and having your plan to get there saying no to things that are not relevant will become a lot easier for you. I’m not saying to be a jerk, just to be mindful about it. You have sole responsibility for your own happiness and a great responsibility as a role model for all the people looking up to you and looking to you for guidance.
Now, hopefully, you get the idea about why consciously directed productivity can create inner peace and why it is important for your satisfaction and fulfillment to be productive with what matters to you and to your designed future. Now go and be amazing… You got this!
About the Author
Name: Majbrit Bøttger
Title: High Performance & Mindset Coach | Speaker & Motivator
Bio: Majbrit Bøttger is an experienced speaker and one of only 200 elite Certified High-Performance Coaches (CHPC) worldwide. She’s an executive contributor for Brainz Magazine where you will also find her on the Global Crea Award list for 2022. She has been working with the concept of high performance for more than a decade and is known for helping C-level leaders and solopreneurs take their life and business to the next level.
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