Best Content Writing Hack – No AI!

Best Content Writing Hack – No AI!

If you need to write to promote your online business, it can be overwhelming to produce the content that you need. It can feel like it’s too much work and that you put it off. You know you need to do it: make the time to sit down, write, edit, proofread, and publish.

But what do you do when you’re not feeling creative enough and can’t find a single word to place on the page?

What to Do When You Can’t Write

When you want quality writing that is authentic and doesn’t involve AI-generated content, stop writing. Instead, record a video. Talk to the camera like you would with a friend about the subject. Make it conversational. Communicate how you naturally would. 

You can use an outline if you want, but I find that it’s better to capture the moment. You can reverse engineer the content after you get the recording, picking out the main ideas and cutting the fat. 

You can also publish the video later if you want, but you don’t have to do that. The point is getting something down in video/audio format that comes from speaking instead of writing. 

1. Walk and Record a Video 

Record your video when you’re on a walk. You can build it into your day by dividing this walking time after lunch. You don’t need to know everything that you want to talk about, only the main idea. Pick a core theme that you need marketing or sales copy or an idea for an article. Whatever you need in written form, a simple theme will be enough of a catalyst. You’ll be surprised at what comes. 

I’ve gone on walks and had no idea what I was going to say. Fifteen minutes later, I had a detailed recording with points that seemed to come out of nowhere. There is a natural magic to walking and capturing your thoughts. It relieves the pressure of having to “write.” You’re in a different environment, using a different medium, so it removes the pressure to produce. Counterintuitively, some of my best ideas and writing have come from video recording on walks. 

2. Transcribe the Audio 

When you have the recorded video, transcribe the audio. There are so many free tools out there. I’ve been using TurboScribe. It works well and gives you three free transcriptions daily. The quality is excellent. You can also use the dictation feature on the cloud version of Microsoft Word

It allows you to drop in a video or audio file, and it will transcribe it directly into the Word document. I don’t like dictating it from the computer since I can’t go on a walk. That’s why I like the ability to upload the video file itself.

Pro tip: Your video may be too large to upload it. You can extract the audio file and convert it to an mp3. I use MediaHuman for this. It’s free and lets you quickly convert any video into an mp3 file. Throw that mp3 into your transcription tool of choice to get the transcribed text. 

3. Edit and Expand the Text

Copy and paste the transcription into Google Docs or Word. Edit it, expand your ideas, and then proofread everything using Grammarly. Your role now is as an editor and creative director. Since you already have something to work with, it’s much easier to make adjustments, add to the content, and polish the writing.  

It’s like the time when a friend or colleague wants you to review an email. It’s much easier to proofread something that already exists versus creating it from scratch. Another thing that you may not notice is that you’re also faster at editing your friends email because you know it needs to be done quickly. You don’t overthink it. 

Create the same positive urgency for yourself by using a timer for 30, 45, or 60 minutes to edit your document. Get in, make editing decisions, then get out. Creating this parameter will help you focus. If you don’t, you’ll allow yourself “more time” to make the content perfect. This is a mistake. You will perform better with constraints. Use timed intervals to jolt your creativity and decision-making. Then, publish your work where it needs to go. 

Follow the Process

I’ve used this exact process to write this article. I started with a video recording I shot on a walk. The video was only two minutes long. I transcribed the text, edited it in Google Docs, and arranged everything. I used a timer of 60 minutes. I’ve got 25 minutes left, and I’m already done. 

This process works well for any content you need to write: sales copy, blog article—you name it. Next time you need to write, don’t write. Follow this three-part process. Go try it for yourself. 

If you want other strategies to help you produce quality work, get my book Productivity Techniques. I’m giving it away for free. 

Remember, you’re only one goal away!

What Streaming 29K Minutes of Music on Spotify Taught Me

It’s been a challenging year. I’ve done more than I ever have and also have been lazier than ever. The ebb and flow of my...

Why Discovering Your Purpose Won’t Make Your Life Monumental

If only you could discover your purpose, then everything would be easier, right? We read books to discover where to direct our life. We look for answers from our friends, family, co-workers, articles, news stories, and watch videos. In a relationship, we wonder…

4 Remarkably Simple Time Management Steps to Achieve Your Goals

Day the Do your goals freak you out? Do you think that the right time management steps will help you achieve them more...

How to Unlock Effective Time Management That Makes You Happy

Does effective time management have to be a chore?  We have plenty of time when we get more specific with how we spend it...

How to Organize Your Goals Using Day Design

Do you want to organize your goals, so you’re happier? Read this post to learn how to organize your day and make progress towards your most important goals.

How to Actually Live Your Purpose Like a Boss

Do you find it difficult to live your purpose? How often do you stop to ask what’s driving your daily actions? What about...

What are the best tricks to keep yourself motivated?

When I was a kid, I would get extremely motivated to master a new skill. I’d go all in, learning everything I could. I...

How to Reclaim Work Life Balance With Personal Productivity

How can we increase personal productivity? Is it hustling and grinding 24/7? Is it balancing work and life so that you can...

What’s the BEST Way to Spend Your Spare Time?

Learn something new. Read books. Go on an adventure. Take a walk. There are high-quality things we can do when we are not...

The biggest waste of time in your life

I remember when I was talking to this veteran guy. He’s been in the military for 20 over twenty years. He was about to get...

Blog

Join the Get Anything Done Newsletter

Productivity Strategies to Improve Your Daily Process

Which Productivity Method Is Right for You?

Which Productivity Method Is Right for You?

Most people take a result-driven approach to their productivity method, focusing on completing a particular task to get a specific result. Results are important, but even with the best intentions and strategy, we don’t always get the result that we want. Focusing exclusively on the results that we desire puts a shadow on the steps to make it a reality. 

Instead, we need to conduct frequent experiments like a mad scientist. When we focus on the quality of our inputs, getting the results that we want becomes natural, more likely, and rewarding. We appreciate our progress, test ideas rapidly, and see the connection between our efforts and reaching specific goals. 

In this article, I’ll share three ways to increase your productivity: how to get the most out of your time, set goals like a champ, and balance your professional and personal goals.

Result vs. Process Productivity Methods 

There is an ongoing debate about what is more effective: process or results

Here’s a cheat code—if you want to achieve more, a process-driven productivity method is the best approach. Some characteristics are that it’s agile and holistic. It incorporates not just the things you want to accomplish professionally but also your personal goals. 

Why have you been getting stuck or frustrated? 

The result-oriented culture that we live in has taught us to value the outputs of life more than the inputs. It’s external markers of success like reaching a sales goal or publishing a book and having millions of readers right out of the gate. 

Goals like these can be helpful to metrics, but they are only the first ingredient of being productive. Examining the full spectrum of our efforts, even if we aren’t “successful,” is the opportunity to shift into a more enlightening productivity method. 

Outcomes are Teachers

In my book Productivity Techniques, I talk about how outcomes are different from results. They are what we learn from our efforts. You can think of them as the result of a result. 

Many people ask if the learning process is more important than the end result. Chasing results can blindside us on the experience we are going through—who we become, the choices, decisions, and the character-building that comes with pursuing our goals. 

What we learn is far more useful than the results if we are willing to examine it. It doesn’t come easy, though. A sense of pain is paired with not reaching our goals. And when do we succeed? Well, we’re great then, so there’s no need for analysis. 

Anytime we put an effort or intention to do something differently, this input leads to an output distinctly different from the result we may or may not achieve. It’s how we learn. It’s our history. Our teacher. 

Input always equals output, no matter if we don’t reach the results that we want. Why? When we take action, there is always an opportunity to learn something new—a clue that will help us improve the next time we try again.  

1. How to Use Your Time 

Most people make the mistake of working too long and get burned out. Working in intervals is the best way to complete tasks. It allows you to focus deeply on everything you have for a limited time; then you get to rest.

The core idea is to work for less time but more frequently. Breaking up big projects into intervals does wonders for your emotions. You become attached to completing the time instead of chasing a result. You create a cycle of wins.

In addition, when you hit the timer, you’ll be amazed at how it creates positive urgency, unleashing creativity and focus that open-ended work can block. 

Working in intervals is the best way to complete tasks. They are highly focused on specific tasks but have a clear beginning and end. It’s a quantifiable in and out that creates separation from the emotions surrounding the result that we want. 

Holding ourselves accountable to time rather than results frees us to focus on what’s in our control. When our stopwatch ends, we can take a break and move on to other activities with a sense of accomplishment. 

We feed our emotions even if we are far from reaching our goal.

2. How to Set Goal the Right Way

The first mistake that highly productive people make with goal setting is that they lump all of their goals together. There are two distinct goals types that no one will tell you about: deep goals and sprint goals.

Your big picture goals are your deep goals. They take long periods of time to achieve. They are things like having an amazing relationship or a highly successful business. Sprint goals take one step to complete. They are tangible, and are the steps to reaching your deep goal.  

Big picture goals are abstract and bold. They’re hard to accomplish. Why? Because they are elusive. We think of them in abstract and aspirational language. Our thought process does not give us clues to reach them. They are soaking in emotions. 

Do you want to get better at setting goals

Break your goals down into digestible bits, separating them more clearly than you ever have before. Become an expert at extracting the small components that are task bound, actionable steps you can quantify. These are sprint goals. 

Use timed intervals to work on them incrementally, without losing perspective of your deep goal in the process. Reward yourself for making consistent progress on specific activities that are related to your deep goals.

3. How to Stay Balanced

We need to take a 360 view of our productivity. We need to be holistic, being intentional with each area, we give ourselves clear things we can work towards. We feel more fulfilled because we are working on the individual parts and whole that make up who we are.

All too often we focus on being productive at work and forget to prioritize the other aspects of who we are. We don’t make time to feed our souls because our bank account is yelling at us. But our needs are more dynamic than that. 

We can work as hard as we can and get burned out. What’s missing isn’t firing off another email or adding an extra zero to your bank account. It could be a bike ride, a phone call to a friend or family member, or a date with your spouse.  

We have a dimensional experience. When we make time for it, we become happier and more fulfilled. Work is important, but it’s not the only thing that drives our soul. The game we need to play is stacking up time in the five categories of life, our goal channels: health, work, relationships, community, and spirituality. 

Compartmentalizing who we are at work, at home, and in our community—it leads to disjointed lives, behaviors, and personalities. We need to be who we are everywhere, in the sense of goals, vision, and purpose. 

The next level is integrating it all. When we can incorporate what we do in all areas—the degree to which we can do this—will determine our balance and harmony.

Focusing on Quality Inputs

Regardless of your productivity method, focus on using your time on specific tasks using timed intervals. Break apart your short-term and long-term goals clearly, and create balance by focusing on all the areas that make up who you are, not just work. 

When you want to be productive, what you’re really after is achievement. The problem is that no one told you the recipe for achievement has three ingredients: results, outcomes, and feedback.

Most people only focus on results. We can make our best attempt, but we still miss our targets. When this happens, it doesn’t mean we failed. It means we are learning. Our prime focus should be on the variables that we can control: quality inputs. 

Why Discovering Your Purpose Won’t Make Your Life Monumental

If only you could discover your purpose, then everything would be easier, right? We read books to discover where to direct our life. We look for answers from our friends, family, co-workers, articles, news stories, and watch videos. In a relationship, we wonder…

How to Reclaim Work Life Balance With Personal Productivity

How can we increase personal productivity? Is it hustling and grinding 24/7? Is it balancing work and life so that you can...

What Streaming 29K Minutes of Music on Spotify Taught Me

It’s been a challenging year. I’ve done more than I ever have and also have been lazier than ever. The ebb and flow of my...

Why Is Productivity Important (and What to Do Differently)

Everything you want to achieve comes down to being productive. Whether at work or home, your productivity level will...

Which Productivity Method Is Right for You?

Most people take a result-driven approach to their productivity method, focusing on completing a particular task to get a...

Best Content Writing Hack – No AI!

If you need to write to promote your online business, it can be overwhelming to produce the content that you need. It can...

Blog

Join the Get Anything Done Newsletter

Productivity Strategies to Improve Your Daily Process

Why Is Productivity Important (and What to Do Differently)

Why Is Productivity Important (and What to Do Differently)

Everything you want to achieve comes down to being productive. Whether at work or home, your productivity level will dictate the decisions you make, the people you associate with, how you handle setbacks, and how you view your potential. It is the ultimate output of your life.

Is Productivity Really Important for Success?

When we think of productivity, we often associate it with motivation, procrastination, and goals. Productivity is a hodge-podge term that correlates with being a successful person. We equate success in life to being highly productive, achieving goals, making lots of money, and mastering our destiny.

But if productivity is the key to success, why do we often find ourselves in a constant battle with it? What are the barriers that prevent us from reaching our full potential? And perhaps most importantly, how can you truly master the art of productivity

Being Intentional with Time

Part of the recipe for productivity is being intentional with your time. It doesn’t matter who you are—you will have to make decisions, which means cutting out other possibilities, taking risks, and constantly putting yourself in a position where you might fail. 

Being productive is about being open to consistent failure because, without it, we wouldn’t be able to test our ideas, carve out our unique path, adapt to situations, and see what sticks in the world.

Productivity Reflects Your Perspective

Being productive is a crucial skill because it influences your perspective on life. Your belief in yourself and what you see is possible paints the picture of your reality. 

Being productive reflects your perspective, worldview, and beliefs. It’s how you say YES to possibilities. Things to consider:

  • How creative do you think you are?
  • How well do you make decisions?
  • How well do you pivot?
  • How well do you handle conflicts?
  • How open are you to new ideas?

Your answer to these questions says a lot about how productive you are personally and professionally. 

Personal and Professional Productivity

We tend to be more detailed and specific, even hardcore, about our work schedules but don’t put that same intention behind our personal productivity. Part of what we are missing in our approach to being productive is looking at each area of our lives and taking a holistic view. 

Too often, we focus on what is urgent or what pays us money but don’t prioritize what pays us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Being genuinely productive is more than just reaching goals with our business. Work is a dominant force, but we have to make time to develop each dimension of our life behind our job.

We are more than the money we make or title—we are mothers, fathers, children, members of a community, citizens, and spiritual beings living in a world of endless energy. Finding the balance between practical things like paying mortgages, raising kids, getting promoted, launching a business, staying healthy, and having fun is the hallmark of productive individuals.

So what do we do about it?

Iteration and Intervals

Our personal energy ebbs and flows, so it’s not reliable. Because of its volatility, we have to find a better way to create predictability in an unpredictable world. Buying clear with our actions, using timed intervals, is the magic bullet to help you focus on the present and gives you superhuman clarity. 

Iteration is a key concept to designing your day around what is most important. We will have to tackle boring and mundane tasks to reach our goals, but using timed intervals gives us both focus to perform decisively and relief when the time is over.

We have to give ourselves space to breathe in between working and thinking. Burnout is a real thing that leads to lost focus, procrastination, bad attitudes, and excuses.

Aligning Thoughts and Actions

We will never be perfect, but pursuing perfection is a worthy goal. Like organizing our home to perfection, we can do well by organizing our minds. Actions aligned with those thoughts will follow.

We are a walking experiment, adapting, evolving—becoming bigger and stronger—if we choose it. Instead of waiting for a “better” opportunity, iterate your way along your path. Break down your big goals into smaller ones, tackling the ones in iteration. Taking a bite-sized approach to your product activity will help you stay motivated and not lose sight of your objectives. 

The Productive State of Mind

When you feel like you can handle any obstacle, challenge, or situation, you are naturally inspired. Looking at the world positively influences those around you and is a sign that you are a highly productive person. Being a rock, no matter the battle or circumstance will help inspire you to take more risks, make decisions in the face of uncertainty, and feel grateful for the good you have in your life.

While we may not always get the results that we want, any wholehearted attempt at achievement is never wasted. Failures can be heartbreaking, but looking at each one as a lesson will ensure that you have a productive state of mind that serves your unique goals, desires, and what you want to achieve in the world.

Final Thoughts

Productivity is more than just achieving goals; it’s a reflection of who you are and your approach to life. Can you adapt and grow? Can you rise to the challenges that fall on your path?

By managing your time intentionally, balancing all areas of life, and maintaining a positive, resilient mindset, you can enhance your productivity and achieve more with your time.

Why Discovering Your Purpose Won’t Make Your Life Monumental

If only you could discover your purpose, then everything would be easier, right? We read books to discover where to direct our life. We look for answers from our friends, family, co-workers, articles, news stories, and watch videos. In a relationship, we wonder…

How to Reclaim Work Life Balance With Personal Productivity

How can we increase personal productivity? Is it hustling and grinding 24/7? Is it balancing work and life so that you can...

What Streaming 29K Minutes of Music on Spotify Taught Me

It’s been a challenging year. I’ve done more than I ever have and also have been lazier than ever. The ebb and flow of my...

Why Is Productivity Important (and What to Do Differently)

Everything you want to achieve comes down to being productive. Whether at work or home, your productivity level will...

Which Productivity Method Is Right for You?

Most people take a result-driven approach to their productivity method, focusing on completing a particular task to get a...

Best Content Writing Hack – No AI!

If you need to write to promote your online business, it can be overwhelming to produce the content that you need. It can...

Blog

Join the Get Anything Done Newsletter

Productivity Strategies to Improve Your Daily Process

What Streaming 29K Minutes of Music on Spotify Taught Me

What Streaming 29K Minutes of Music on Spotify Taught Me

It’s been a challenging year.

I’ve done more than I ever have and also have been lazier than ever. The ebb and flow of my attention and focus has been like the dog from Up.

Can you relate?

Do you wonder which social media platform you should focus on? Where are your people? How can you connect with them? 

I was recently impressed with the level of detail in Spotify Wrapped. Man o man, how cool is that? 

It’s a custom-tailored content frenzy about my listening habits, even with a musical personality type akin to the Myers Briggs assessment.

Spotify Wrapped Content 

Is there any content that is more personal and shareable at the same time? Every screen is noteworthy, stroking your ego while giving you multiple options of content to share.

This is an interesting concept of companies generating content for their users to share with their audience. It’s self-promotion and advertising at the same time.

But it’s a win-win and feels OOO so good.

They feel honorable in the experience they provide. They make it about delivering the best possible music experience, and they take it further by adding personality and emotion.

Spotify is a brand that has it right. They make oodles of money, but they put their users first, and all of the AI and custom-curated playlists make me come back every hour of the day. 

Music Colors the Past and Present 

I listened to over 2.7K artists and streamed 29K minutes of music.

I’m a musician, so I get a lot emotionally from playing and listening to music. It’s cathartic to do both. Even with my songs, though, they can be a bittersweet time capsule taking you right back to where you were emotionally when hearing a piece of music. 

There are some artists like Tycho and Tone Ranger that I listen to over and over again, and the emotional center of the music changes as I do.

Understanding and connecting with your emotions is critical to making good music. But it can also be hard to dip into previous wounds or experiences. 

It is both a strength and weakness that can lead to overthinking, living in the past, and not being grateful for the experience of the living, breathing present moment.

Meditating with a Buddhist Monk

I always go back to the ancients who have mastered their emotions. They do it not by denying or submerging their emotions in the wells of their minds but by embracing them as they happen. 

Emotions, especially triggered by music and past experiences, are visceral, bringing up those moments in time with the same feelings and biases. 

Not long ago, I meditated at the local Buddhist temple. They asked if I wanted to talk with the monk.

Naturally, I said yes.

When I walked up the stairs and sat in front of this rather younger-looking monk, I noticed that he was smiling and didn’t seem to be removed from the emotional experience of mere mortals like myself. 

From how I remember it, he told me to bring my mind back when other thoughts come up. It’s not hard but very simple. Bring yourself back to the present moment when your thoughts and emotions lead you astray. It’s a constant practice and does get easier, but no one is free of it.

Returning to the Present Moment

Everyone must come back to the present moment. There’s no other magic about it than that. A level of effort will always be required, no matter how skilled you become. 

Spotify has been great at helping me connect to the past, but next year, I plan to use the ever-flowing music stream not to dip back into past pains but return to the present experience.

Here is some piano music that I recorded a while back. I don’t promote my music, but if you find yourself in a quite space, I hope this helps you relax and connect. Enjoy!

How to Reclaim Work Life Balance With Personal Productivity

How to Reclaim Work Life Balance With Personal Productivity

How can we increase personal productivity? Is it hustling and grinding 24/7? Is it balancing work and life so that you can hit the covers peacefully after a job well done? Working hard is core to achievement, but how do you know if you’re working hard on what truly matters? 

We’ve got excellent tools to make our lives more productive, like digital apps, the internet, and access to free education. But with all the power of the digital world, we are becoming fragmented like splintered glass. 

Many successful business folks wonder if balancing work and life is even possible. We want to build our relationships and business, raise great kids, make a difference, be healthy and have fun, but we’re constantly substituting one thing for another. 

In this article, we’ll address the shortcomings of work-life balance and why adopting a personal productivity system, like Day Design, can help you balance the critical areas of your life beyond work. 

Why We Suck at Work Life Balance 

If you’ve ever read a book about productivity, you were likely hoping to achieve a sweet spot between work and life. The issue is that most ideas presented are tactics that don’t address what you’re working on in the first place. 

Is it a laundry list of tasks that we need to complete by the end of the day? If we manage to scratch everything off before midnight, then we feel successful? We’re busy, but is our life any different than last year? What about that trip that we planned, new side-hustle, project, or dancing class?

We’ve become skilled at being busy but lack the skills to assess what is essential. We can’t balance because it’s never been our goal. We jump to handle the most urgent tasks, mainly work, and leave the rest for later. The expectation is to react at break-kneck speeds. Critical thinking comes later. 

Our Personal Productivity Isn’t Very Personal 

Maybe you’re looking for a new position, starting your own business, or already have a great role at a company with exceptional benefits. 

Here’s the thing—we’ve become great at being productive, but instead of being balanced, our productivity is an uneven landscape. One area is a tower of high achievement, and another is a desert.  

We see it with the wealthy financial managers on Wall Street making millions. They’re productive with their work, but they go home alone to their penthouse in Manhattan. They see their colleagues getting more, so they rush to do the same. It’s a game of king of the mountain, and they do it very well too. But what about health? Relationships? Community? 

Being great at our work and getting paid well is important, but it’s only one element of productivity. The reason why it’s such a powerful force is that the things that money can buy are readily observable. 

Why do you think we talk about money so much? 

As Jonah Berger points out in Contagious, “Observable things are also more likely to be discussed.” On the flip side, seeing if someone is happy, a leader in their community, or a great spouse is more difficult because it’s harder to see. These areas of productivity are more private but just as vital. 

Work is important, but it’s not the only thing that sustains us. It’s only one aspect of 360 Productivity, albeit the one we think about most. 

Learning the Hard Way from a Failed Business

Years ago, I started a business with two other partners who were much older (and wiser, I thought) than me. We had some solid deals in place, and we could see the dollars pouring into our bank accounts. 

In a few months, we brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars, which was a new experience for one of my projects. For the first time, I felt like a badass able to not only have a great idea but turn it into a business that generated cash. My belief in my abilities soared. 

We were hired to create assets for a new startup, including long-term web and media projects. We also started developing an application for the medical field. We hired a small staff, and after a few months, we were sitting across the table from wealthy investors who could turn our app into a multi-million dollar blockbuster. Our business was looking very promising.   

I thought it was where I was supposed to be. Then challenges arose between my partners and me, as is common when an idea starts to take off—relationships change. The money we were making and the potential colored the tone of our meetings. What began as collaborative and supportive turned into coercive and accusatory. 

The mission and values we spent weeks defining at the beginning were overshadowed by fear and entitlement. We talked about how much money we would make or were owed instead of the difference we could make. The shift in conversations marked the beginning of the end. 

This shift in my team affected my work. My motivation evaporated. I wasn’t excited. I didn’t want to take calls from my partners. This business was a vehicle that could make all my financial goals a reality. What was my problem? 

Cloaked in clever ideas and modern technology, I realized the truth—the purpose of our business was to be a money-generating machine. There was no deeper meaning or purpose, even if we claimed there was. It was all about money and always was. 

I realized that I’m not driven by the pursuit of money as much as I thought. If that was the case, since we’re making a decent amount, my satisfaction with our productivity should have been on fire. That wasn’t the case. 

It was a dark time where my partners turned into combative enemies. In the end, after a partner drained our entire bank account without saying a word, it was clear that this was a fast sinking ship. 

At times, we felt productive, but we were not balanced. We were looking at productivity through the lens of work, specifically money, which can lead to blindsides, hence a failed business.

Let’s look at how we open up our field of vision to a broader perspective of 360 Productivity

Creating a Balance Between Our Goals

Remember Robin Williams? Arguably, one of the most talented and successful actors of all time. He was loved unanimously by the entire world, yet he committed suicide? As far as the world goes, he was massively productive. He’s won many awards and is a household name who has influenced generations of people. But yet he didn’t love himself? 

What about Ernest Hemingway? President Kennedy said that not many people has affected the American people the way that he had. Even that level of productivity at work wasn’t enough to keep him alive. How does that happen? 

Examples like these point to a disconnect between our productivity in work and our lack of productivity in other areas like relationships, health, and spirituality. 

As a Day Designer, our goal is to integrate all our goal channels into a balanced whole. As we’re more consistently productive in each 360 category, the system rises together. 

That system is our happiness. 

We focus our time and actions to raise the level of fulfillment in each goal channel. Each day, we isolate our goal channels, giving them the attention that they deserve. We hold ourselves accountable by looking at our productivity as quantifiable information. 

The recipe for happiness is different for each one of us. We all have unique goals, which is why there’s not a textbook answer. We have to define it for ourselves. We get a clearer picture after we take action. It’s the synthesis across our goal channels that brings us closer to becoming fulfilled, complete, and worthy.

Being productive starts with asking what’s on our plate and why it’s there. 

When we run into trouble when we stop asking what combination of relationships, contributions to the community, career, health, and spiritual practices bring us happiness? 

We’ve been focusing on work exclusively, idolizing success in terms of money and popularity. We do this because it’s easily defined—we either have money, or we don’t. It’s a simplified metric to base our quality of life around. But there’s more to being productive than cash.

In the case of the actors and writers mentioned previously, how spiritually productive were they? Can we honestly say that they’re genuinely productive if they decided to end their life? The culmination of work successes ends with one significant failure that lets the world know they didn’t love themselves. 

Instead, let’s ask the difficult questions now. Waiting to dig deep doesn’t help us become more productive. When we procrastinate, we become more unsure of who we are. 

We become better when we ask what fulfillment is, not later, but today.

How to Be Creative in Art

When you’re not as creative as you’d like to be, you’re likely comparing yourself to something or someone with the expectation of results. You don’t think you’re a real artist because so-and-so is so much better—they’ve done more pieces, more shows, and made more...

Why Is Productivity Important (and What to Do Differently)

Everything you want to achieve comes down to being productive. Whether at work or home, your productivity level will dictate the decisions you make, the people you associate with, how you handle setbacks, and how you view your potential. It is the ultimate output of...

Best Content Writing Hack – No AI!

If you need to write to promote your online business, it can be overwhelming to produce the content that you need. It can feel like it’s too much work and that you put it off. You know you need to do it: make the time to sit down, write, edit, proofread, and publish....

Rethinking Healthcare Corporate Learning

In this post, I share the challenges of traditional training and explore innovative tools that improve corporate learning for healthcare professionals…

How to Get Answers from Your Subconscious Mind

We need to learn how to use the subconscious mind to solve problems. In this article, you’ll learn how to give your brain space to tap into powerful insights.

What are the best tricks to keep yourself motivated?

When I was a kid, I would get extremely motivated to master a new skill. I’d go all in, learning everything I could. I remember when I was taking lessons on three instruments: guitar, piano, and saxophone, all at the same time. Man, my parents were supportive. I...

How to Organize Your Goals Using Day Design

Do you want to organize your goals, so you’re happier? Read this post to learn how to organize your day and make progress towards your most important goals.

Empowering Organizations with Custom Learning Solutions

Organizations looking for custom learning solutions will benefit from the approach outlined in this article to stay ahead and maximize their training budgets.

Why Discovering Your Purpose Won’t Make Your Life Monumental

If only you could discover your purpose, then everything would be easier, right? We read books to discover where to direct our life. We look for answers from our friends, family, co-workers, articles, news stories, and watch videos. In a relationship, we wonder…

The biggest waste of time in your life

I remember when I was talking to this veteran guy. He’s been in the military for 20 over twenty years. He was about to get his pension but was distraught/upset because he didn’t appreciate how much time had passed since he served.  He never figured out what he cared...

Blog

Join the Get Anything Done Newsletter

Productivity Strategies to Improve Your Daily Process

Why Discovering Your Purpose Won’t Make Your Life Monumental

Why Discovering Your Purpose Won’t Make Your Life Monumental

Discovering your purpose will make everything easier, right?

We read books to discover where to direct our life. We look for answers from our friends, family, co-workers, articles, news stories, and watch videos. In a relationship, we wonder whether our partner is the right one.

We want to discover the truth, so we wait for an answer, but it never comes. Yet, we’re constantly on the lookout for clues to decode our purpose. We wait for a promotion to move our career to the next level or hope for insight that makes everything click. We want an epiphany.

You could be reading this for a variety of reasons like:

  • How to discover your purpose 
  • How to know if you have the right purpose

In this article, you’ll learn the truth about discovering your purpose that could change the actions you pursue each day. You can also get a head start by watching my free Day Design Course

Flip the Script on Discovering Your Purpose 

Deep down, we hope that time and experience will reveal our purpose. We want our discovery to be empirical data—a tangible truth that we can hold up to the world and say, “here is my proof.” If only it were that straightforward. 

But in the same way that we cannot hold and touch love, we cannot hold and touch our purpose, or happiness for that matter. So how can we know if we’ve obtained it or not?  

As a Day Designer, our purpose is to be intentional with every hour of the day.  

We’ve been so focused on discovering our purpose that we’ve forgotten that it’s us who decides it. When we place discovery outside of ourselves, we turn into receivers waiting for answers to come via luck or chance. 

The hard truth is that we’re here to decide our purpose, not to discover it. 

We establish the purpose of each day and each moment. Instead of activities coming from a place of discovery, we decide the meaning, then test that idea. It’s a decision that places the responsibility cleanly on our shoulders. 

Some can’t bear the weight of such a burden, but you can.

What Indiana Jones Does Before He Leaves Home

We tap into our power by our decisions—we decide whether a conflict is a negative event or an opportunity, whether a natural disaster or social movement is the end of the world or the beginning of a better world. 

Our decision-making guides our actions and is in our complete control. 

When we wait to discover the truth, we are waiting on the outside, for reality to help us stumble on a discovery. 

We treat our purpose like a treasure that we have to discover, exploring the world like Indiana Jones to uncover it. We don’t realize that we’re already holding the treasure—it just needs a little elbow grease to shine it up. 

If we look closer, Indiana Jones already decided what was important before putting on his hat and jumped on a plane. He took a journey—not to discover—but because his mission required it. 

His expeditions didn’t reveal his purpose. They reinforced it. 

What brings him and his father together in The Last Crusade wasn’t making the most incredible discovery the world had ever known. It was realizing that what they’ve been missing all these years was an experience together. 

The decisions they made on their journey showed them their bond ran deeper than even the most sacred treasure, the Holy Grail. “Let it go,” Indiana’s father reminds him as they almost tumble into an abyss. 

In the end, they were happy to be alive and realized that the misunderstandings over the years had brought them closer to where they wanted to be. But it took a lot of experiments to get there. 

Testing Frequently Is Better Than Discovering Your Purpose

As a Day Designer, we learn more about ourselves and what we want by testing our ideas. The information from our experiments is what leads us closer to our goals. It’s not waiting to discover our purpose, then acting later. 

What can we do with one single day? How can we design it to the maximum, so it’s productive, not stressful but relaxed, and balanced? Doesn’t that sound nice if every day was like that?

We’re not just attacking our work with full intensity. We’re not leaving the other essential areas like family, friends, and kids who might be screaming in the other room because they need a diaper changed.

Our work is not our job but balancing all the aspects of our life as an integrated whole. It’s becoming 360.

We handle all the elements to the best of our abilities through our decisions, not through discovery. We empower ourselves by choosing what’s important, not waiting to discover what’s essential. 

We can design our day by handling all of these things. It happens by making intentional decisions, not through discovery. 

We hope that we’ll discover our purpose one day, but we can decide what it is right now. When we start making decisions around it, we can also find that our quest changes. We thought we’re pursuing the holy grail when in fact, we were after inner peace, for example. 

Experimentation leads to clarity. 

It’s Better to Decide Than to Discover

We can make a new decision at any moment. So today, flip from discovery to decision. There is no right or wrong purpose or one ordained from above. 

There will be challenges and a long road of doubts. We can’t plan for 100% prediction no matter how much we learn. We have an opportunity to decide when and how we work, how we interact, how we make money, how we go on dates, how we clean our house—everything, including our purpose. 

Discovering your purpose is as simple as deciding what it is. This truth is both the ultimate freedom and responsibility. 

Our choice is to decide. If you’re looking for a different way to test ideas and improve your work-life balance, check out my Day Design Course. It’s a free video series that will work your core ideas from my Day Design Training program. I hope you get loads of value from it