5 Ways To Be More Productive

Wouldn’t it be great if there were just a pill to take to make us get more done?  Here is the good news!  There is a way to actually max out at your potential and a way to actually become the best version of yourself, but the answer isn’t in the next diet or the next new gadget.  The answer is something not talked about often because it’s the secret to happiness and productivity.  I hear people praying for more energy, joy, and peace but I don’t think God will zip down from heaven and fix these problems. Why?  Because he already gave us the ability to feel joy and have passion, and he gave us the gift of peace.  So it’s not God’s job to answer this prayer because he already has.  We must take responsibility for how we are feeling and to get ourselves in a place to actually feel joy, peace, and passion.

Einstein said that you cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created the problem.  What he is really saying is “we” need to change our mindset to elicit a solution to the same old problems.  Well, how do you change your mindset when it is stuck in negativity?  We can’t just state a positive thought on top of a negative thought; we must actually change our energy.  Our energy or “vibration” is the key to our happiness, the key to being more productive, and the key to becoming the best version of ourselves. It is the ability to maneuver and manipulate our own energy.    We must learn how to manage our mood.  Unfortunately, not many people are intentional about how to control their mood They find that the weather, or their significant other, or their current circumstance dictates how they will feel.  The truth is, we have that ability.  Have you ever thought about your energy cycles – or what makes you motivated one day and not the next?  Have we identified what we are disciplined at and how to use that energy to shift an area of our life that may be needing more intentional effort?

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” Psalm 100:4

Come to my gates with thanksgiving…meaning you are not even in Gods realm if you are complaining and asking lousy questions like, “Why me God?”  Or, “How could you let this happen to me God?”  We have to get our “God” energy on.  We have to enter his realm to experience his joy.  After we do that, the questions that we ask God are more like, “What good is in this problem?  How will this tragedy make me an even better person?”  Or, “What do I love? Who loves me? and How can I be more loving today?” The problem is we have bad habits that keep us stuck in our problem and negative thinking cycle.  We must break free and start intentionally adding in more activities that lift us up, so that we feel good more often.

What helps you shift your energy?

1. Music

Get up and get moving. I have a playlist on my phone called “workout” that I play before I go and speak. Why? Because I have to get myself pumped up. I have to get myself in a “peak state”. We can control how we feel and we need to start doing it ritualistically so that we don’t buy into the energy of a negative circumstance.

2. Get rid of the clutter

I don’t mean sweep the dust under the rug. We must have organized drawers as well.  Focus on one thing at a time, and take the piles that are on our desk and on our floor and file: act or toss! Take my 3-Day Finally! Get Organized Challenge

3. Make your house/office a vision board

I hired an interior designer and all I did was give her my vision board and I said make my home this reality!  Everything down to each knick knack in my house has meaning.  If you hate a certain lamp or a paint color, change it.  If you don’t love something, it will shift your energy unconsciously, and make you feel less than happy.

4. Respect yourself

I can’t even tell you how many times people have come to me wanting to get advanced results but were unwilling to do what they said they were going to do.  If we say we are going to call someone on Tuesday, then do it.  If we don’t follow through on our own word, then we don’t have very much self-respect.  Essentially we are practicing failure with ourselves.

Self-Respect according to the dictionary is: “Pride and confidence in oneself; a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity”.

There isn’t much honor in not honoring your word and once someone repeatedly doesn’t follow-through on their word towards themselves, don’t be surprised if other people start to do the same to us.  If we cancel on ourselves, we will notice clients canceling on us.

5. Boundaries

This is hardest for nice people!  They want to help and be liked but what happens without boundaries is a lack of self-respect.  Boundaries are usually formed out of lack of boundaries.  I remember an attorney basically forcing me to sign a document, I felt uneasy about it, signed it anyway and the document was out of alignment with what the attorney verbally told me.  This made me set a new boundary, which is “I don’t sign anything that I don’t read.”  Who are you spending time with?  Do you have a friend that drains your energy and makes you feel bad about yourself?  If so, perhaps you need to set a new boundary of how much time you spend with this person and what you will and will not tolerate.  You do deserve what you tolerate, so set some new boundaries for yourself and notice how the people around you will start to change.  Anytime we try and blame someone else we take away our power. “Change” starts with you.