This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
>> Return to the Small Business Branding front page <<
Ted commented on my recent post about productivity:
"I think it boils down to one’s goals and the desire to achieve them. I
think that time management should be the tactics that support the
strategy and ultimately the goal. I think that for most of us, the lack
of a burning desire is what holds us back."
I highlighted the last sentence because it really made me think. And I’m still thinking. As I go through my day, I rarely ask myself how my actions are fulfilling some burning desire, and if so, what that burning desire actually is. I also wonder if you NEED a burning desire to be more productive.
My guess is you probably don’t need a burning desire to be productive. But what is life without burning desire, passion, higher purpose and all that stuff? Maybe productivity should be just the means rather than the end. Perhaps it should be the means by which we live out our passions and fulfill our desires, whatever they may be.
In Getting Things Done, David Allen quotes one of his clients who wrote:
"When I habitually applied the tenets of this program it saved my life … when I faithfully applied them, it changed my life. This is a vaccination against day-to-day fire-fighting (the so-called urgent and crisis demands of any given workday) and an antidote for the imbalance many people bring upon themselves."
In that passage, you can see a suggestion that our passion in life is easily snuffed out by the overwhelming demands coming at us from all sides. So why not just give it all up, move to the country, grow your own food and settle into a simpler life? Undoubtedly, some do. And of course, there’s no guarantee that’s any better. Maybe you have fewer demands. Perhaps less stuff to actually keep organized. Less stuff to do and a longer time period to get them done. Maybe.
But still, no guarantee of a passion-filled existence.
Ted wonders, as do I, how does one find their burning desire? I’m betting (hoping) it lies on the other side of productivity. How about you?