Are you active or productive?

I have a very busy life. Toss my daughter’s calendar of activities on top of my own and we are always on the go. We are very active and we are productive when we are focused on our priorities.

An active life is where you are busy. You have a lot of tasks you are doing but you don’t seem to be moving in a forward direction in your life. A productive life is where you are making improvements along the way. You are growing and stretching yourself.

For years I was active but not productive. When I started incorporating a vision for my life, supported by goals to achieve that vision, I moved from being active to productive. What happened is, I became intentional on what activities I would focus my energy and time on.

The result is that my life expands; I am doing things today that a year ago where just a dream. I can point directly back to goal setting and prioritizing my energy into living a productive life.

The result is a gratifying life. When you set goals and prioritize your life to achieve the goals you will be amazed at what you are able to accomplish. You will grow in confidence as you witness first-hand how far you can move your life if you choose to do that.

Transitioning from an active life to a productive life is not as simple as flipping on/off a light switch. It takes time and it takes some level of discipline to focus your energy. You will probably find that you need to eliminate some outdated obligations from your life. You need to carve out the time and/or energy to focus on moving yourself forward. For me, I found that I needed to change my evening routine and eliminate TV. I could give you a list a mile long of why I needed to watch TV. Top of the list was how relaxing it is. Second on the list was “I like my shows” and so on. I was watching on average 20-25 hours a week. That is a lot of time that can be devoted to goals.

Today, I watch at the most 2-3 hours a week. One hour is devoted to my daughter watching America’s Funniest Video on Sunday evening over dinner in the living room. It is a ritual we started when I first divorced and continue to this day … WE LOVE IT! Any other TV I watch is while I’m sitting on my indoor bike for 30 minutes and that’s only when the weather doesn’t allow me to run outside.

What I know today is that when I am intentional with how I spend my time I am productive. When I’m productive, I feel empowered and that’s fantastic!