Dear Readers, do you believe that your job defines who you are? Do you feel overwhelmed and discouraged? Are the weeks passing you by too quickly? So quickly, Dear Readers, that you are wondering what to do with your lives! Dear Readers, don’t dwell any longer and find out you can find purpose and success in 2020.
Welcome to new and returning readers to the Branding24Seven community! As the brainchild of JMStrategy LLC (JMS), a boutique consulting firm that offers strategic solutions to strengthen your brand, this blog is the place to find the answers to your most burning branding questions. Now, let’s examine how you can effectively identify and remove nonessentials to fire up your productivity in 2020.
Before moving further, there is one caveat to discuss immediately: today’s post is not about how to be productive when you hate your job. This blog previously explored how you, Dear Readers, could go about remaining motivated while hating your current job (read all about it here) or feeling stuck in a dead-end job (you can find here). If you would like this blog to explores these topics further, drop a comment below or email us at jms@branding24seven.com.
Now that’s out of the way Dear Readers, let’s discuss how you can reorganize your weeks to be more productive despite working full-time. Earlier this week, this blog examined the three-pillar infrastructure needed to make real progress towards your goals and become a productivity maven.
Today, this blog is examining the first pillar: to identify what is essential.
Dear Readers, let’s recognize that it is normal for many interests and passions. Let’s also acknowledge that your tastes and priorities will change over time. However, you cannot have everything at the same time. Instead, choose to be more realistic with your expectations. For that reason, you must take the time to sort out essentials from nonessentials.
Essentials are the fuel you need to keep on living while nonessentials weigh you down and prevent you from reaching any of your goals. Essentials should revolve around your physical and mental being. In short, it’s about finding what can feed your mind, body, and soul (not just spiritually but also intellectually and creatively) simultaneously.
This pillar is not about getting more things done but rather how to get the right things done. For example, you have a job you love just like Anna. But, due to the long hours, you are neglecting your health. In the long run, it won’t matter how productive you are at work if you are eating yourself to a heart attack! You are not even productive now…. You are only giving the impression that you have it all together. That veneer will show cracks sooner than you think!
In Anna’s case, she knew for a fact that diabetes and hypertension left unchecked would kill her. Her doctor told her that she could reverse them both with healthier eating habits and much more physical activity. She also wants to purchase a home, pay down her student debt, and put a lot more in her retirement account. Do you see, Dear Readers, how easy it is to classify every priority as an essential goal? Is that realistic? No wonder she has been very unhappy with her life as it stands now!
PHASE ONE – Remove whatever crazy standards you think that society has set for you and focus on what you need.
PHASE TWO – Recognize that what matters, in the long run, may not be addressed in 2020 or even next year.
Tired of suffocating under the weight of finding “the one” is a societal standard, Anna decisively removed it from her plate for the time being. Phase one. Done! She reluctantly recognized that buying a house does not qualify an essential this year…. Not while her student debt is taking such a big bite of her paychecks. So, for now, buying a house is a nonessential and attacking student debt, as well as her retirement fund, are essentials. Phase two. Done! The time has come to move to the next pillar!
Dear Readers, come back next week to find out how this blog will unpack the other two pillars of the infrastructure needed to make real progress towards your goal while working more than 40 hours a week! In the meantime, we want to hear from you. What actions are you taking weekly to achieve your goals? How do you plan to stay focused on your new year’s resolutions despite holding down a full-time job? What nonessentials are you removing to have the time you need to invest in your personal development?
Comment below or email us at jms@branding24seven.com to let us know what you are doing to stay on track with your goals. You can also mail us your questions or concerns to share any grievances you might have and get an actionable game plan from the JMS team at:
JMStrategy LLC
21 S. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107.
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