The #1 Emotion You Need to be Productive
What do you think is the #1 emotion you need to be productive?
Is it inspired or motivated or passionate? A big surge of energy to get you going?
Maybe it’s committed or disciplined. Not the kick in the pants that gets you started but the quiet dedication that keeps you showing up, day after day.
Nope! It’s actually none of those things!
The #1 emotion you need to be productive…
…and I guarantee it’s something you’ve never thought of before…
is safety.
Last week, we talked about the thoughts and feelings that block you from getting things done.
We think the reason things aren’t getting done is because “I’m lazy.”
But when we dig into what’s actually going on in the moment when you’re supposed to be working…
The actual thoughts and feelings that are blocking you and making the work impossible…
There’s no laziness at all!
Instead it’s thoughts like:
I should have done this already. I should know the answer. I’m so behind. I don’t know where to start. I’m going to make a mistake. They’re going to find out I’m a fraud.
And feelings like:
Overwhelm. Fear. Inadequacy. Confusion. Anxiety. Out of control.
And you think the answer is just to power through all these emotions? To inspire, motivate, and discipline yourself out of this place?
No! The first thing you need to do is create safety for your mind.
Because your unique genius mind, which has already gotten you so unbelievably far, cannot operate at its highest potential under these conditions.
What your mind needs most in this moment is to feel safe.
Safe to try. Safe to learn. Safe to explore.
Safe to start anywhere. Safe to give it a shot.
Safe to play! Safe to be light. Safe to have fun with it!
If you were truly lazy, you wouldn’t care at all that these things weren’t getting done.
If you are stressed about your lack of productivity, that is proof enough that you aren’t lazy.
And it is proof that the work you need to do is not to push yourself harder but to lower the stakes and create safety for your mind…
So it can play. So it can have fun. So it can show you its breakthrough genius insight.
In an age where we’re all knowledge workers, your mind is not a resource for you to ruthlessly extract from and exploit.
It’s not a production line where you spit out 100 units a day, linear daily progression with a 10% improvement.
Your greatest strength, the source of all your genius, your mind, is an endlessly renewable forest that you need to cultivate and protect.
And the first thing you need to do is create safety for it to play.
So that YOU can access the best, smartest, most insightful, most “holy shit I’m a genius” parts of yourself again and again, every day.
In whatever form that happens to take today.
How the heck are you supposed to do that?
Especially if you’ve been following the linear extraction, “discipline and power through” model of productivity for years, if not decades?
Guys. This is just a habit.
It is as easy to learn as any other skill you’ve ever picked up. It’s as easy to automate as any other habit you’ve ever developed.
Did you learn how to walk? How to write? How to make a financial model? How to bake a cake?
Do you brush your teeth every morning? Take your shoes off when you come home? Check your email first thing when you sit down at your desk?
Then you can learn the skill and implement the habit of creating safety for your mind.
Keep following along, and I’ll keep teaching you how.
And if you want to super-charge your progress.
If you want diagnose exactly what’s happening for you today…
Create a simple, step-by-step plan to build the habit of creating safety…
So you can access your genius on a consistent basis.
If you want to get more done than ever and feel good, relaxed, and endlessly renewed doing it.
Then come talk to me.
📸 Instagram | 💌 Newsletter | 👋🏽 New? Start here