What does productivity mean to you?

I recently started a group fitness class (spinning & strength training) and fell in love with it immediately. The workout itself is incredibly tough but that's not what convinced me to go back, and certainly not what convinced me to go six or seven times a week now.

The magic is in purpose--"the why" of showing up to spin. The instructors always remind the class to set our intention, and remember our purpose of being there. Why did we show up and setup on a bike for 45-60 minutes instead of sit at home and watch TV or go out with friends? It's because we each have a goal-- something that matters enough to each of us to put in the hard work.

I'm beginning to view productivity in the exact same light. Working for the sake of working will only get me so far. I need to remind myself of my purpose -- my reason for working. Everyone's reasons will of course be different, but having mine in front of me really helps.

Whenever my work starts to get hard, or I've hit a roadblock I can't quite seem to overcome, I remind myself of why I'm doing this at all. I think of my goals and how I'll never complete them if I just walk away from the problem. I remind myself of all the progress I've made so far and that quitting would be a waste of everything done. With all of this in mind, it becomes much easier to sit back down at my desk and figure things out.

My action steps for you are to find your purpose-- set the intentions of why you're working, and why you're pursuing your projects. If you already have them, that's awesome-- go a step further and write them down, and put them in places that you can physically see them. Remind yourself of them constantly, so you keep focused.

Your 'why' could be as simple as needing to pay the bills, or it could be to support your family or to save up enough money to go on a trip. The reason itself doesn't matter as much as having one. Just make sure it's something you really care about, because things will definitely get tough, and you want it to be worth it to keep going. It can also help to break down your long term goals into daily success achievements.

Have a wonderful productive day!

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