3. Progress, Not Productivity
Productivity is another goal that’s trapped me over the years.
Again, it’s good to be productive in the same way it’s good to be efficient.
But you can have productive day after productive day and still miss the mission.
I’ve learned to ask whether I’ve made progress even more often than whether or not I was productive.
Progress forces you to ask bigger questions.
Progress makes you look at whether you advanced the mission. It makes you ask whether you’ve made people better, or whether you’ve just gotten something out of them for yet another day.
It focuses you on growing your skill set, on improving the team.
Progress makes you work on it, not just in it.
If you focus on progress enough, you won’t come to the end of a year and realize you just completed a year that looked exactly like the year before, which in turn looked surprisingly like the year before.
Progress is all about the future. Productivity is about the present.
Productive leaders make today better. Leaders focused on progress make tomorrow better.
Don’t Miss Out
These three distinctions have helped me accomplish more in less time. But even more than that, they’ve helped me focus on what matters most in my life and calling.
Good news! On December 27, the High Impact Leader course returns and will open again for new registrations.
The High Impact Leader is my best-selling training course designed to help leaders get time, energy and priorities working in their favor. Think of it as a gift to yourself post-Christmas—a way to get your life and leadership back in 2018.
In the meantime, you can get the free video training and free calendar template now, which I hope will help.
What’s helped you shift your thinking about productivity?
I’d love to hear from you.
This article originally appeared here.
