Essential Meaningful
PRODUC TI VI T Y I don’t care about being efficient and productive just to be a better person, to get more done, to be more awesome. Cranking out more stuff for productivity’s sake doesn’t interest me anymore (it used to). Today, I care about productivity only as it affects my mission. I’m on a mission to change the world, and if I can be more focused, effective, and powerful as I do that … then it serves the mission. What doesn’t serve the mission is burning myself out. I’m in this for the long haul, and rest and selfcare are incredibly important. I also don’t want to just have my nose to the grindstone. I care about the experience I’m having as I’m on my mission — it needs to be powerful, joyful, meaningful. I’m not just cranking widgets. With that context in mind … let’s look at what is essential to this kind of productivity — what I think of as Essential Meaningful Productivity.
What’s Essential Meaningful Productivity
essential might be some of all three of those). This should be essential for your mission or something incredibly important to you (health, loved ones, etc.). Work on what matters. This means getting clear every day on what’s essential to you. 2. Meaningful: This should not just feel like the next thing on your task list … it should feel like the most meaningful thing on your task list. You might even open yourself up to feeling like this is your purpose, your joy. This is serving someone out of love, with devotion. It’s like when I made dinner for my wife & kids last night — this was an act of nourishing them, of taking care of them, of loving them. Writing this post feels like that for me. In fact, we can bring that kind of meaning to most tasks, if we practice this kind of devotion. 3. Productive: In this mode of work, I’m focused. I don’t turn away from the difficulty or discomfort or uncertainty, running to distractions or easier tasks. It’s important, it’s meaningful, it’s an act of love — and the people I’m serving are so worth this discomfort. I clear away distractions, and go into full-screen mode, giving this my entire focus.
There’s three parts to this:
As you can see, these three parts overlap quite a bit. Each word is really describing a different aspect of the same thing, but each is useful.
1. Essential: You focus on what’s essential, not just busywork, not what feels urgent, not on what other people are asking you for (though what’s
So how do you do this? Let’s look at the keys to making this happen.
34 | Aussie Painting Contractor
