Have you asked yourself what productivity is and how important would be in your life? Did you ever try to make a definition of your own? Did you personalize it to your principles and your life?

Productivity definition - the state or quality of being productive

We all know there are different kinds of productivity, but what comes first to mind when you hear that word?

For most of us, being productive is about doing work following our notes in our planner; the more, the better. It is wonderful if we have goals that we set our mind on and we come to achieve most of those, but what if this productivity consumes all of our energy and there is no time left for ourselves? We are important and we matter. 

What if being productive means doing fewer chores, errands et cetera? Lately, we hear quite often the phrase. " Less is more". I tend to believe that doing less for apparently important things is doing more for ourselves as a person which is truly important.

What if being productive means that we should be productive in building our character and our principles?

We are all so habituated to doing things, to checking them on our daily lists. Being organized and clear about our daily tasks is constructive and keeps us focused on what we have to do. Are all those things on our list that we set our minds to do for ourselves or do we put them on the list just because we feel the need to be productive? What if being productive means that we should build a life that fulfils us from the inside out?

Let’s return to the definition of productivity and change it in our favour. Productivity - the state or quality of being productive for ourselves, and our lives, building us up and making us strong when we are less strong. Does your checklist involve a nature walk where your body benefits tremendously physically and mentally? Does your checklist involve doing something that you love, time for yourself, time with your friends, or genuinely time with your family? Or an act that brings joy to someone who needs it?

Look closely in the morning at your daily list and see if there is one thing that involves yourself, one thing that involves building yourself or one thing that makes you truly happy. If you have at least one thing your definition of productivity resembles the one that is favourable to you.
We are human beings, wonderful human beings I should say. If we manage to do so many things for work, or errands, we should try to do as much for our identity, for our human identity. 

When we do that, we begin to rest, we begin to make time to read a book, to take nature walks, to meet our family and our friends, to just be and be present.

Doing all these things gives us much-needed time to pause and reflect on the most important things in life that have real value.
The productivity which is directed in our favour becomes favourable to the other areas of our lives. When we are productive for ourselves, we are more productive in our work and the stress dissipates easily. 

Next time you check your checklist, try to include yourself more.