What’s Your Productivity Trigger?

My Grandfather told me stories of getting up at 4:30 a.m. to bring in the wood, put it in the cook stove, and light the fire so his mother could prepare breakfast. A sister gathered in the dark eggs laid by the hens. A brother prepared the pig months earlier. The flour ground from their corn was in a sack to make the biscuits with fresh milk from their cows. Sure they had a lot to do every morning, but if they wanted to eat, this is what they did.

Your biggest morning task is to decide whether to stop by Starbucks or McDonald’s for breakfast. That leaves you an abundance of time to do other things on your to-do list that are important, right?

Struggling with your to-do list?

How do you focus on what’s most important as you Work Positive?

First, find your productivity trigger.

I found mine as I stood at a family member’s open grave. He was young and his death unexpected. As I stood there, my mind flooded with all the times I wished I had called him just to say “Hi!,” the birthday cards I didn’t send and “just because” notes left unwritten. I cried.

I decided that I wasn’t crying for him, but for me. For the lost opportunities—words left unsaid; deeds left undone.

Then a beautiful dragonfly flew over the grave, his iridescent wings glittering in the summer sun. More joined him and I remembered that most dragonflies live only about a month.

As I stood there at that open grave, staring at dragonflies, I asked myself, “If I only had a month to live, what would I do?”

Watching the sandy soil cover his casket, dragonflies flitting about, I decided to do better. I now say all the words, some to people I haven’t spoken with in 30 years. I now do for others rather than wait until later. I define success by my clients’ metrics.

I pay attention to what is important. I focus on and filter for positive thoughts. I cooperate and complement with other positive people, with no Eeyore Vampires on Team Joey. I trust my birthright to believe and imagine the best in opportunities, while my accountability partners sniff out the trail of my ego and redirect me as necessary. I pay attention to what is important, which leads me to achieve a Work Positive lifestyle. I share my discoveries with you.

What’s your productivity trigger?

Who do you work for? More than your employer?

Why do you work? Pay bills or achieve financial independence?

How do you work? Job or career?

Where does your motivation arise from? Mine certainly changed…

Answer these questions and find your one trigger to be more productive this week as you Work Positive.

Next, we discover the one thing you must do each morning to be more productive.