There is a distinction between the habit of being productive and being busy —
Being busy is activity-based execution with no direction.
Being productive means executing the activities that bring you closer to the experience of personal and professional fulfillment.
So, review your activities and ask yourself:
What will completing those activities do for me?
What end result or goal do they lead me to?
If this isn’t clear, we recommend you go back to the drawing board and clarify your true north. To clarify your true north, you want to activate the part of your brain called the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is a bit of brain tissue that sits right behind your forehead and is responsible for executive function: acquiring knowledge, planning complex cognitive behavior, decision-making, personality expression.
The more you access your purpose and vision, the easier it is for you to stay in the executive seat. When you have a true north, rather than feeling flustered, you will be able to strategize and make better decisions intelligently. Here are some simple questions that can help you define and clarify your truth north:
What would you like to see more of in the world?
What about the current world, if any, concerns you deeply?
What is a cause or vision that you would like to make a reality, whether you were paid to do so or not?
If you knew you couldn’t fail at anything, what would you pursue?
What things do you do so well and so naturally, but don’t consider special?
If you didn’t need permission from anyone or anything, what might you do with your life?
Answering the above questions requires some soul searching to develop deeper levels of self-awareness. Clarifying, defining, and redefining your true north is a skill for life. Over time, your true north will help you confidently say ‘no’ to the things that distract you from what’s most important, and ‘yes’ to the things that are important. Furthermore, it is our observation that your personal purpose is a unique expression of your highest core values.
Core values are representations—things, activities, interactions, and subject-matters— that we deem to be most important in our lives. Our hierarchy of values— most important to least important— determines what we filter for in life, and more importantly, what we use to govern our decision-making processes. Your natural, automated behaviors demonstrate your values.
To clarify your values, audit your external environment (behaviors in context) and your internal landscape (thoughts and emotions) without judgment— a pattern will reveal itself. You can download this simple questionnaire— it will help you clarify your core values. As you clarify your core values, you will notice that you are already living a purposeful life. And, there is always an opportunity to become more aware of what is important to you and refine your expression of your personal purpose.
Summing this up: start with some idea of your true north, clarify your core values, and continue from there. Your purpose will become clearer and clearer with practice and time.