Mindful Productivity
I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Underneath my detail-oriented, organized appearance is a super messy, chaotic creative solopreneur who struggled with productivity.
Yep. That was me.
You’d probably be surprised to learn that a self-proclaimed mindful productivity expert can be sort of a sh*t show when it comes to my approach to work. I blame my endlessly curious brain. Regardless, there have been periods in my solopreneur journey that this part of me has been majorly problematic.
Couple that with a deeply conditioned propensity for overworking and I had myself a whole lot of hustle without the results to match.
Sound familiar? Passion waning, feeling like your business isn’t where it should be, and totally burned out at the idea of continuing in your current state.
I get it. And I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way. I changed, and you can change, too!
Once I took a cold, hard look at the why behind my “unproductivity”, I started to see the light.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t doing enough. It’s that I was not tending to all the elements that contribute to ensuring I will get things done without burning out. I was trying to force myself into this box of working just because that’s what I had been programmed to do. 8-5 in front of the computer, Monday - Friday without question, and sometimes even weekends, too. Especially if I wasn’t “hitting my numbers”.
I finally had this 'ah ha' moment, and I realized that doing more, more, more, working harder, longer, later was not going to get me where I wanted to be. I also realized that some task management tool or system or template wasn’t going to be a magic bullet either.
I had to go deeper. And when I did, I realized there was a reason (or many reasons, actually) that were driving my current state. And as soon as I saw that, I got to work changing it.
You see, accomplishing the things you want to in your business isn’t just about better tools, more streamlined systems, or better planning (though that’s important), but it’s also about managing your energy and your mindset to ensure you’re bringing your best, whole self to work as much as possible.
And that ’s what I’m going to talk about here. It’s called mindful productivity.
If you’re ready to quit the hustle and completely reset your approach to work and getting things done, then you’re going to want to keep reading. If you want more flow and ease in your business, mindful productivity just might be your answer. It has completely changed my life, and it can change yours, too!
Ready to learn more about it? Let’s dig in.
What is Mindful Productivity
Simply put, mindful productivity is blending mindset shifts and energy management with systems and planning to actually get things done without the hustle or burn out. Taking the entire ecosystem that plays into productivity and approaching each aspect with intention. That includes managing your energy, becoming more mindful and intentional, and implementing simple, supportive (but still flexible) systems and planning.
It’s a far more intentional, holistic approach to getting things done and to a certain degree, will require you to de-program and unlearn everything you thought you knew about productivity.
Let’s Talk About Productivity
Before we get into the nuanced version of getting things done, let’s talk about what productivity is in the first place. According to McKinsey, productivity is a measure of output relative to input. Simple, right? It’s a metric of economics that’s somehow became a factor of performance in our daily lives.
And while I completely understand the need to measure productivity to a certain degree, at some point there needs to be an understanding of when enough is enough.
It seems like the more productive we become, the more we’re expected to produce or fit in. Suddenly, the scope of your role has expanded 4x just because you (gasp!) have free time. Optimized something in your day? Great! More time for another activity.
It’s like we’ve learned that we need to figure out how to fit more in. If I’m more productive, I can do more, more, more.
But what if, instead of fitting more in, we could do less? This, my friends, is what mindful productivity aims to help you achieve.
The Four Pillars of Mindful Productivity
By my definition, there are four pillars (or aspects) of mindful productivity: energy, mindset, systems, and planning.
There is a synergy that occurs between the pillars that’s important, and we’ll discuss how they relate to one another below. The cool thing about mindful productivity is that it's a system that continuously feeds into itself, and when all four are consistently tended to and refined, you are creating the optimal environment to move your business forward in an ease-ful and sustainable way.
Let’s explore the pillars.
Mindset
Mind over matter. Your thoughts create your reality. You’ve heard the buzz around the importance of having the right mindset, or mindfulness, and when it comes to getting things done in your business we just can’t leave this out.
Mindset is the first, and in my opinion, the most important thing you’ll do to become more productive, mindfully.
It took me a long time to figure out how much this was holding me back in my first business. When it came to thinking about growing my business, my mind was taking up residence at a five-star hotel in Lack-ville. And boy was I comfy. Everything in my external world completely validated my stories about how little I had to build my business. So little money. So little time. Even so far as to say the little (I actually used the words ‘lack of’ when I talked about this) passion. Of course, I was going to struggle. I was literally creating that reality for myself.
If you take only one thing from this, making space for reflection on the stories you’re really telling yourself will go a long way.
The moment I recognized what I was doing and began working my way toward a truly abundant mindset, everything changed.
The golden goose of mindful productivity is that it helps create space to reflect, listen, and nurture the mindset that serves us best in the phase we’re in.
This is the deep work. And unlike understanding your energy, this is a life-long undertaking. But the awesome thing about mindset is that tiny shifts can make a big impact!
Energy
This concept is as old as time — you can’t give from an empty vessel. And though all of us have heard this a thousand times, we continue to try to pour into our businesses without pouring into ourselves first.
The pillar of energy in mindful productivity is about understanding your unique energy blueprint and using it to your advantage.
We’ll explore all the ways you can do this in future journals, but a few examples are planning your work according to your energy map, working in your zone of genius, cycle tracking, and finding and managing energy leaks.
Managing energy will play heavily into the systems and rituals you build for your business which is the third pillar. Using what you know about your energy levels and what feeds them and what drains them becomes an incredibly powerful tool to help you build systems and rituals that truly support you.
Systems
Without systems in our business, things are likely to be chaotic. And a chaotic business lands squarely in the hustle camp we are trying to get away from. It can be easy for creatives to shy away from systems because they can signify the requirement of a rigid linear path, but that does not need to be the case!
Having the right systems in place creates space and free you up to do more of what you love – more creating, more outside time, more time with family, whatever that is. It takes the mundane and lets it run in the background so you don’t need to think about it.
Implementing systems as a practitioner of mindful productivity doesn’t just mean grabbing the latest Asana template and going to work. Yes, it is about getting great task management and planning support through software, but it’s about weaving your work style into a set of rhythms that honor your energy.
Bye bye 9-5.
Planning
Last but not least, we have planning as the fourth pillar of mindful productivity. Nothing throws a wrench in getting things done like not knowing what should be getting your attention. I cannot count the number of times I just started my day with whatever was on my mind. I’m sure you can guess how those days turned out.
I’m a Project Manager by trade. I spent almost 15 years creating and executing plans. Literally my whole job before I left to run online businesses. But as a creative solopreneur, planning hit different, and after countless tries at following a thoughtfully laid out project plan, I realized I needed to adjust. Now, planning in my business balances ensuring I have a clear path to my goals while allowing for some flexibility to explore new ideas and pivot if I need to.
Nothing brings more peace and ease to a business than a plan, which is why planning is a part of my mindful productivity system. Knowing exactly what needs to be worked on, with room to breathe (because we all know almost no day will go as planned), allows me to begin and end my days with clarity and confidence.
There is literally nothing better than wrapping up your last to-do and closing it down. No guilt, no shame, no feeling like I should have just done one more thing. That’s the goal.
How to Start Practicing Mindful Productivity
As you look at the elements of mindful productivity you may start to feel overwhelmed, but even taking small actions here can create lasting impact. Here is how to get started.
For mindfulness, create 10-15 minutes in your day for reflection and action
Start managing your energy by identifying your energy and productivity leaks
Have a plan. Each day, identify 3 things you must get done (bonus points for at least one thing being tied directly to achieving one of your goals)
Starting with these small actions can create a flywheel that you can use to slowly implement more and more of these practices into your business.
So, what do you think? Ready to dial back the hustle and start working with intention with mindful productivity? You got this!