People have often told me that they’re surprised by how much I get done during the week. I’m saying that not to brag, but to relate that I forget how much work I’ve done to be able to make a bigger impact in the world.
So in this article, I’d like to share some of my secrets.
Why Get Things Done?
I’m not a member of the productivity cult, which believes in getting stuff done just to feel like you’re optimizing your life, or to feel good about yourself. I definitely have been a member of this optimization cult, but these days, I reject it outright.Being productive just for the sake of being productive, or because it’s a “good thing to do,” feels like it’s missing the point. It turns us into machines that just churn things out meaninglessly, which leads to burnout and a feeling of pointlessness.
Instead, I care about impact and meaning. I’m on a mission to create change in the world, helping the world to open to uncertainty, and that feels really meaningful to me. In service of that mission, I’m committed to creating things such as this article, my podcast, my Fearless Living Academy and all the courses in it, and my Fearless Mastery coaching group and all the transformation that’s happening in there. Those creations will serve the impact I’m committed to.
Setting Targets and Regular Planning
It’s easy to get lost in our tasks, emails, and messages—and forget where we’re going when we’re cranking out tasks. This leads to a ton of wasted effort.
If you want to make the most impact, set targets so you know where you’re going.
- Yearly: Every December, I spend time reviewing my previous year and reflecting on what targets I want to hit in the coming year.
- Monthly: At the end of each month, I do a review of my previous month and then set targets for myself for the month. I align these, as much as I can, with my yearly targets.
- Weekly: Every Monday morning, I review my previous week and set targets for the current week. I try to align these with my monthly targets, so that each week, I’m moving closer to the monthly targets.
- Daily: Every day, I plan out what I want to do in the day. I don’t always hit it, but that’s not the point. I get clear. And I try to align my daily targets with my weekly targets.
Accountability
Along with the reviews and setting targets, I hold myself accountable—to a group of entrepreneur friends, to my coach, to my team. Sometimes, I do things to hold myself accountable to my family (for fitness challenges), or to the public if that will serve me.Accountability, as I mentioned in a recent podcast episode, isn’t about beating myself up if I’m not doing something. Instead, it’s helping me take a clear-eyed look at where I might be going astray, where I might be getting blocked, and where I might need to get more committed. More on these below.
Focus Sessions for Resistance
When I’m feeling resistance—which happens often—I’ll use a focus session to move myself forward. I have focus sessions set up in my Fearless Living Academy and in Fearless Mastery. These work like magic.The way they work is you get on a video call with one or more other people, then each person says at the beginning of the call what they’re going to focus on. You go on mute, focus on the thing(s) you’re resisting, then report at the end of the call how things went.
Daily Flow
I start the mornings with a planning session, like I said—it just takes about five minutes. I like to block things off on the calendar so I know that I’m making time for the important stuff. If I know I’m facing some resistance around a couple of tasks, I’ll save them for my focus session for the day.I’ll clear out emails and messages, then I'll start on my first block.
How the rest of the day flows depends on what I have on the calendar. If it’s a bunch of calls and meetings, I don’t have too many long focus sessions—maybe a short focus session in the morning and another in the late afternoon. If I have fewer calls, then I try to block off a good amount of time for important things so that I’m moving my targets forward.
I always leave space for exercise, some rest and self-care, and meditation.
Working With My Blockers
If I’m getting stopped in an area—I’m not moving it forward or I’m avoiding it—then instead of ignoring that, I’ve found it powerful to take a look at it. This helps me to learn from the blocker and use it as an area of growth, rather than just thinking it’s something that sucks about me that I need to judge or fix.The first thing I will do is reflect on it, or if it seems unclear to me, I’ll bring it to my coach (even coaches can use coaches). What do I notice about this blocker? What fears do I have? What feelings are there for me?
Once I’ve done that, I will try to bring more awareness in the moment I’m getting blocked. In that moment, there’s a number of things I can do if I have awareness: breathe, bring some compassion if I’m feeling something, choose something new, and more.
Continuous Learning
As you can see in the last section, every obstacle becomes a lesson for me. So I try to draw learning from whatever is going on with me and bring curiosity.The main way I do that is with reviews. You saw in the “Setting Targets and Regular Planning” section above that I do regular reviews—every day, week, month, and year. The daily reviews are brief, just five minutes. The weekly and monthly ones aren’t long either, about 10–15 minutes. But the yearly one is something I’ll spend more time on (days or more than a week).
All of this means that I’m often catching whatever is happening and using it as learning. I’m far from perfect at this, but even when I fall short here, it’s a place of learning.
It’s all a bunch of lessons to me. This helps me get better at all of this and deepen my learning of life. And for me, that’s much more rewarding than being productive.
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