Why You Should Stop Focusing On Productivity

Most people who talk about productivity, motivation, goals, or learning end up talking about one thing: tasks. Most people are focused on how to do more tasks faster.Most people are figuring out how to turn gears faster in a gearbox.Please understand that this is your life.You've got this one and that’s it.The world doesn’t need more widgets.In fact, if you look at the top 5 regrets of the dying, you’ll see “working too much” and “living someone else’s life” at the top.Its up to you how you spend it.

2 Minute Action

Take 2 minutes to meditate, today.Self-reflection and focus.Develop these skills and then only the important tasks will show themselves.

An Old-school Trick To Stay Focused Through The Hard Stuff

You can probably name a pretty decent number of movies that show “perseverance,” “fortitude,” or “determination.”Most of these movies represent challenges and obstacles in really obvious ways so viewers can relate quickly.

This means, adversity is usually represented in some physical way.

Sports and war movies lend themselves very well to this model.

The trouble is that most “hard stuff” in your life won’t be physical.

It will be social, or emotional.School did NOT prepare you for this.Specifically, this means dealing with difficult personalities, regulating your emotions, and knowing when to put yourself first versus when to put others first.None of this was part of your education—yet it’s necessary for success.So what are you going to do about it?

2 Minute Action:

Take 2 minutes to meditate this morning.Meditation can help train you to focus on what’s important and become more immune to distractions.Not only is this an ages old tactic, but there is more and more empirical evidence for this each yearThis could mean task distractions or it could mean emotional distractions.The skill of focus is pretty transferable.If you don’t know how to meditate or even know what that means, try calm.com, or the headspace app. These will help guide you.Everyone has 2 minutes.You don’t need an hour.You just need 2 minutes on this, over time.