If there is one thing that breaks my heart when talking to clients, it's when they're talking about their productivity. There is so much guilt surrounding how productive you are.
This obsession with optimization and being hyper productive under the disguise of getting more done and doing more things and being busy all of the time risks burnout, and frustration in your business!
However… if you look into the etymology of the word productive. You find it's actually far more interesting than you might think, and might give you the space to define productivity in a way that starts from you.
The etymology of the word productive is serving to produce, which in itself sounds pretty much what I said at the beginning. However, once you dive into the etymology of produce, it gets even more interesting. To produce is to develop, to draw out, to lead or bring out. So for me, that means serving to produce means to be in service, to lead or bring out the best possible version of yourself. How that looks is individual because productivity is personal.
Now what it can look like is hustling when you need to it's about getting your head down and getting things done. What it is in service to you when it is in service to bringing out the best possible version of you.
But it's also about resting and focusing on sustainable work that fits you. It's not about making perfect task list or creating a productivity system that is exactly organizing every single inch of you. The way you work, isn't wrong. As long as it's in service to leading and drawing out the best of you.
Your productivity isn't based on how many tasks you get done or how many things you've got to do. It's about developing, leading yourself in the direction you actually want.
We are bombarded by hundreds of things each day, telling us to work smarter, harder, faster, stronger, better, whatever it might be. But it completely forgets the origins of productivity: being in service to yourself. What if instead of assuming you're the problem. You're actually the solution and the way that you work is the answer.