Doing More Will Not Make You More Productive. Learning How You Work Best Will.
The secret to getting more done isn't filling your day with more tasks. It's learning how to focus your time and energy on the things that actually matter.
I received a question from a podcast listener recently asking how I manage to stay focused and get so much done.
And I understand why people ask.
I run multiple businesses. I have four children. There are school schedules, sports, household responsibilities, meals to plan, workouts to fit in, and all the other little things that come with having a full life.
And somehow, I still have time to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, read a book, work in my garden, or meet someone for lunch.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking.
You must have an incredibly structured schedule.
And the funny thing is, I don't.
At least not in the way most people imagine.
I have structure when I need it, but I also have an enormous amount of flexibility in my day.
And the reason I can enjoy that flexibility is because I've spent years learning how I work best.
When my children were little, I had a very limited amount of uninterrupted time to work on my business.
Nap time.
That was it.
I typically had about two hours before someone woke up and needed something, and I knew that if I wanted to build a business while also being present for my babies, I needed to get very good at using those two hours.
So I did.
I learned how to sit down, focus, and get things done.
Not because I was naturally better at productivity than anyone else.
Because I practiced.
And over time, it became something I could turn on almost like a light switch.
Even today, I still work in roughly two- to three-hour increments. Most mornings, I sit down with my list, move through the things that need my attention, and finish the bulk of my work before lunchtime.
Sometimes I'll check email or follow up on something later in the day, but the majority of my focused work is already complete.
Which means I get to spend the rest of my day doing other things.
And I love that.
Because I didn't build businesses so I could spend every waking hour working.
I built them because I wanted the freedom to create a life I actually enjoy.
Now, one of the frameworks I use to understand this balance is masculine and feminine energy.
I think of masculine energy as the structured, doing side of life. It's the part of me that makes the list, creates the plan, and executes the tasks.
Feminine energy, on the other hand, is the receiving, flowing side. It's the part of me that wants to sit outside, read a book, enjoy my garden, or simply have space to do whatever feels good in the moment.
And I love both.
I love being able to sit down and work intensely for a couple of hours, but I also love knowing that when the work is done, I can close the computer and enjoy the rest of my day.
For me, the structure creates the freedom.
But here's something important.
That doesn't mean I force myself to work every time I sit down.
There are days when I can tell something is off.
Maybe I'm distracted. Maybe I'm feeling overwhelmed. Maybe there's something emotionally that I need to work through before I can give a task my full attention.
When that happens, I don't automatically assume I need to become more disciplined.
Sometimes I step away.
I journal. I go for a walk. I give myself a little time to reconnect.
And then I come back.
Because I've learned that trying to force productivity when something else needs my attention isn't always the most effective approach.
I remember working with a coaching client years ago who had paperwork covering her dining room table.
She'd been trying to organize everything for months.
Every time she looked at the table, she felt overwhelmed. She knew it needed to get done, but she couldn't seem to find the motivation to finish it.
So I suggested something simple.
Spend twenty minutes working on it tomorrow.
That's it.
Twenty minutes of focused attention.
She immediately pushed back.
She told me twenty minutes wouldn't be enough time to make any meaningful progress.
But I encouraged her to try it anyway.
When we spoke again, she told me it hadn't worked.
She'd spent the twenty minutes trying to file the paperwork, and she felt like she'd accomplished almost nothing.
So I asked her what she'd been doing during those twenty minutes.
And she told me she'd been drinking her morning coffee while working on the paperwork.
Interesting.
So I asked what she actually wanted to be doing while she drank her coffee.
She told me she wanted to sit in her favorite chair, read the newspaper, and enjoy a quiet morning.
But she felt like she needed to be productive instead.
And there it was.
She was trying to do something she didn't want to do during a time she genuinely wanted to spend doing something else.
So I told her to enjoy her coffee.
Sit down. Read the newspaper. Do the crossword puzzle. Take the time she wanted for herself.
And when she was finished, spend twenty minutes filing the paperwork.
A few days later, she reached out to tell me she'd completed the entire project.
In less than an hour.
Something that had been sitting on her dining room table for months was suddenly done.
And do you know what changed?
Not the paperwork.
Not the amount of work required.
Not even her ability to complete it.
She stopped fighting herself.
And I think that's something so many high achievers need to hear.
Because we have this tendency to believe that the answer to everything is more discipline.
More structure.
More effort.
More time spent doing.
But sometimes the very thing that's slowing you down is the belief that you have to force yourself to operate in a way that doesn't actually work for you.
Now, don't misunderstand me.
I'm not suggesting that you should only do things when you feel like doing them.
There are plenty of things I do every day that I don't particularly enjoy.
I don't wake up excited to handle every email, invoice, or administrative task.
But I know that those things need to be done.
And I've learned how to give them my full attention, finish them efficiently, and move on.
Because the reward for getting those things done is that I don't have to think about them anymore.
They're finished.
And I can enjoy the rest of my day without that mental weight hanging over me.
This is also why I don't believe multitasking is the incredible skill we've been led to believe it is.
When you're trying to do fourteen things at once, everything takes longer.
But when you give one task your full attention for fifteen or twenty minutes, you might be surprised by how much progress you can make.
And once you start paying attention to how long things actually take, your entire relationship with your to-do list can change.
I had sixteen things on my list this morning.
Sixteen.
And for a moment, my brain wanted to make that mean I had an enormous amount of work ahead of me.
But then I reminded myself that some of those tasks would take thirty seconds.
Others would take five minutes.
A few might take twenty.
And suddenly, sixteen things didn't feel nearly as overwhelming.
Because I wasn't looking at sixteen massive projects.
I was looking at sixteen individual actions.
There's a difference.
But there's another piece of this that I think is even more important.
What are you actually working toward?
Because being productive simply for the sake of being productive isn't the goal.
I have a very clear vision for my life.
I want to continue building assets that create income for me throughout my lifetime and eventually for my children.
That includes businesses, investments, books, podcasts, and other things that can continue creating value long after the initial work is complete.
And I know that vision isn't going to happen overnight.
I'm not going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly own a hundred rental properties.
But I can do something today that moves me closer.
I can write another section of my book.
I can record another podcast episode.
I can work on an opportunity that contributes to the bigger vision.
And when I know exactly where I'm headed, it's much easier to identify the few things that deserve my attention today.
I also recognize that life doesn't always cooperate with my plans.
So I have what I call my perfect plan and my real plan.
In my perfect plan, everything goes according to schedule. I have the time I expected, nothing interrupts me, and I can work through everything exactly as intended.
But we all know how often that happens.
In my real plan, I recognize that children get sick, appointments change, people call, and unexpected things come up.
And instead of abandoning the goal because I no longer have an uninterrupted hour, I ask myself what I can do with the time I have.
Maybe it's five minutes.
Maybe it's sixty seconds.
Maybe I can only make a tiny bit of progress today.
But I make the progress.
Because I've learned that maintaining momentum matters far more than repeatedly stopping and starting every time life gets in the way.
And that's the real shift I want you to consider.
You don't need to become someone who works all day.
You need to become someone who understands what matters, knows how to focus, and is willing to consistently take the actions that move you toward the life you want.
You also need to give yourself permission to enjoy that life along the way.
Because what's the point of creating all this success if you're too busy to experience any of it?
This is the kind of work I do with my private coaching clients.
We get clear on the vision, identify the habits and beliefs that are creating unnecessary resistance, and develop practical strategies that actually fit the life you're building.
Sometimes that means a focused strategy session to help you get organized and moving again.
Other times, it means working together longer term to create meaningful change and build the consistency you've been struggling to develop.
But either way, the goal isn't to make your life more complicated.
It's to help you create the results you want while enjoying the process of getting there.
You don't need to do more. You need to get clear on what matters and become more intentional with what you're already doing.
If you're ready to stop feeling controlled by your to-do list and start creating meaningful progress toward your bigger vision, message me.
Let's get clear on where you're headed, figure out what's keeping you stuck, and create a way forward that actually works for you.