Four simple steps to enjoy productivity again
For many of us in the Western world, productivity is the number one priority of the day. But the attempt to stay ahead of every curve comes with costs: tension, anxiety, stress, and ineffectiveness, to name a few.
What if you could reframe productivity to accomplish more and feel better each day?
“Are we having fun yet?”
I’d like to offer another perspective on productivity.
Productivity is the natural state of all living things. As long as your heart is beating, you are flowing life force energy. It is creative, and it is productive. And you are always producing.
- Your mind is producing thoughts.
- Your body is producing sensations.
- Your heart is producing emotions.
- Your spirit is producing intuition.
Just like a flowering plant or fruit-bearing tree, you are growing, leafing, blossoming and bearing fruit every minute of every day. These four aspects of your human nature add up to produce what you call “results.” With them, you create your life.
- Are you nourished by your produce?
- Are you happy with your yield?
Yes? Congratulations! Share with us how you did it!
No? Let’s take a closer look at your life. What do happy, productive people do to keep the fun in productivity?
Four simple steps to be happy and productive:
- Take time out.
- Reconnect with your vision, and hold it lightly.
- Accept the distractions, and learn to set boundaries.
- Act with awareness.
Step 1: Take time out.
The process of life itself always serves to realign you – mind, body, spirit and heart – when you respond to it well. But the tyranny of the urgent hunts us all. It’s crucial to step back from the urgent to make space for the important.
So, for this week, just one simple task. List three or more of your favorite things, things you long to do when you’re revving. Here are a few ideas to get you going…
- Crank up the music and dance.
- Get into the serious dirt at the back of the oven and get it out of there.
- Get your hiking boots on and go for a 10-mile mountain trek.
- Spend all day Sunday with the newspaper and an endless cup of coffee.
- Step away from the computer for five minutes and sweep the floor.
- Make a lovely meal, with 5-star presentation.
Don’t censor anything! This is about what pleases you, what springs spontaneously from your core. These are things you can count on to reconnect you with yourself, when you need it.
Now, choose one, put the time in your calendar this week and do it.
By learning to develop all four aspects of your humanity together, you will not only manifest your vision, you will also enjoy the process, because the process itself will gather up the scattered parts of you and put you back together.
Stay tuned in June.
Each Monday in June, I will cover one of these four steps here in The Wheel of Creativity blog. Join me throughout the month for insights and actions you can use and apply to the real issues you face each day.
I’d like to know your biggest challenges, so that I can address them in these posts. Please post them here or on the Wheel of Creativity Facebook page. I assure you, you’re not the only one facing them.
