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.

Ask This Question and Avoid A Life of Regret

Not sure whose job it is?Take the ball.Unsure how to get the work done?Take the ball.Waiting for someone to tell you to start?Take the ball.

Basically, it comes down to control and ownership.

If you decide to take ownership over something, it psychologically falls into your field of “stuff I can control.”

This is really useful for most things.

(There are some serious consequences for doing this in EVERY aspect of life, but in MOST aspects of work, this works pretty well.)When you frame something as “in your control” your approach changes. You start to see the ways in which you can make it happen.The neat thing is that even if you’re wrong and you “fail,” you’ll be left with the benefits of knowing that you didn’t leave any effort on the field. You did everything you could.No regrets.And when you only have one life to live, you really can’t afford to have many of those.The reality is that there are really very few negative outcomes to taking ownership and seeing most tasks and outcomes as within your control.

2 Minute Action:

What’s an excuse you’ve been making?What might you do if you couldn’t give that excuse anymore?What approach might you take if you had to make it happen even with your challenges?If you come up with multiple answers for this, try one of these today.The action may take more than two minutes, but what if it couldn’t?What if your life depended on it?(Because it kind of does.)

Why Your Life Doesn't Look Successful

I recently noticed that many of my friends and family are making more money than me, taking vacations to exotic places, having babies, buying houses, and starting families.

 

I'm 29 and most of my Facebook Newsfeed is 3 things:

 

• People getting married

• People having a baby

• People getting a dog

 

After a few years of watching the social media filtered highlights of their lives, I've realized the big reason my life and career doesn't look the same.

 

I don't want the same things they want.

 

I want, so desperately, to live a meaningful life.

 

I call this the Death Bed Principle.

 

The idea is simple. What kind of life will I look back on from my death bed? What will I need to do to feel like I spent my time and energy in worthwhile, useful way?

 

My goal is to avoid the most common regrets dying folks have:

 

"I wish I had lived my own life instead of the life others' prescribed," and "I wish I hadn't worked so much."

 

Please read Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware for more context and depth into her striking discoveries.

 

One of the ways I've started implementing the Death Bed Principle into my life is by counting the estimated weeks I've got left.

 

Take the average lifespan for a person my sex and nationality (roughly 80 years), convert that into weeks, subtract the number of weeks I've had, and voila.

 

As of today, I've got a little over 2,000 weeks left.

 

Looking death square in the face is scary, but I don't want to be scared of dying. I want to be at peace with my life and how I spent my time.

 

If I look back at my journey and all I see is 40 hours a week spent at a job I didn't really love, working for a cause that didn't really help the world, I'll be full of regret.

 

If I look back and I see my entire life lived in self-indulgence, knowing I could have done more to help others, I'll be full of regret.

 

If I look back and I see my hard work to make the world a better place, regardless of the challenges I overcame and the failures I had, I'll be proud of my journey and I'll leave a legacy of courage and honor for my family.

 

Success will look very different for you than it will for others who can only see the next vacation they're planning.

 

If you're working hard just so you don't have to work anymore, you're at extreme risk for regret.

 

2 MINUTE ACTION

 

Take 2 minutes to calculate how much time you've got left.

 

Use the Death Bed Principle to write down a list of what a successful life would look like from your last week.

 

Write down what the Facebook Newsfeed of a "successful" person might look like.

 

Defining success will massively increase your odds of getting there.

 

If you're looking to join others who share your definition of success, take this 2 minutes to join the Relentless Community on Facebook and share your values and ideals.

 

We're all on team human. Sometimes it helps to be reminded of that by like-minded, motivated souls.