How do you go from daily task churning to a more enlightened form of productivity?

The difference between checking off tasks all day and being more meaningful with what you do is knowing precisely what you want. If you don’t know what you want, your task list will fill up with tasks helping others get what they want.

An angry customer wants a refund, your boss wants a sales report, your friend wants you to join her for a hike, and your brother wants you to help him fix his car.

If you commit yourself to helping all these people, when will you have time to work on your tasks? When will you have time to work on achieving your goals?

This is why it is essential to do a weekly planning session. It is here where you can make commitments to yourself and fix them in your calendar. During this session, you can look at what you want and plan out how you can move closer to achieving those goals and completing those projects.

If you later decide to cancel one of those commitments to yourself and do something for someone else, that’s your choice, and you need to own that choice. It’s no good blaming other people and wishing there was more time in the day. You broke that commitment to yourself and your goals. There is no one else you can blame but yourself.

Becoming more enlightened about your productivity means ensuring you have the structure and workflows in place so you are spending sufficient time on what is important to you. It does not mean you stop helping others. We don’t want to be selfish—part of feeling fulfilled and happy is contributing to the welfare of others—but it’s essential to balance that with your needs.

I have coached hundreds of people, and the happiest, most fulfilled ones are the ones who have created balance. They know what they want and have carved out sufficient time to achieve those things. That time is non-negotiable. They will not allow others to steal that time from them. The rest of their time is dedicated to helping others, doing work that benefits others, helping their friends and siblings, (and dealing with upset customers).

Enlightened productivity is about that delicate balance between serving yourself and your needs and the needs of others.

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