Your roadmap from overwhelm to clarity

Mastering the art of productivity isn't just about knowing how to work; it's knowing WHAT you should work on.

If your efforts aren’t targeting those few key, impactful tasks, you’re just treading water.

If you want to shift from being busy to being genuinely productive, it’s time you prioritize what really moves the needle.

What would that be?

Let’s dive in.

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Before we begin: Here’s what you might have missed in the past few weeks…

• In issue #35 of The Productivist, I shared the advanced time-boxing strategies. Read it here.

• In issue #34, you discovered how you can optimize your language to boost happiness, confidence and performance. Access the full issue here.

• In issue #33, you learnt 6 mental models that high performers have embedded into their decision-making. Access the full issue here.

Which one was your favourite? Just hit reply and let me know! 🫶

Big idea #1: From complaining to ownership.

“There’s just not enough time!”

That’s the most common excuse I hear from executives and business owners as a reply to why they haven’t:

• made exercise a regular part of their life

• made progress on their passion project

• started that hobby or dream business they’ve been thinking about for years

To which my reply is…

Yes, time flies.
But guess what, you are the pilot.

3 practical ways to start taking responsibility over your time:

1. Speak Own-ish, not Victim-ese.

Language affects your mindset more than you think.

→ Victim-ese: I don’t have enough time.

It makes you feel like a victim of circumstances.

→ Own-ish: I can always make time for what’s important.

You are taking back control over your time.

And it is not a fake-it-til-you-make-it statement either. If an urgent situation demands your immediate attention — say, a call about a loved one needing you — it's clear you'd prioritize that above all else, right?

You always make time for what’s important. Treat your priorities with same importance and urgency.

Another example:

→ Victim-ese: My schedule is packed.
→ Own-ish: I can learn to manage my schedule better.

And you ARE learning by reading this newsletter! 👏

Last but not least:

→ Victim-ese: I don’t have time for it.
→ Own-ish: I have the time, but it is not a priority right now.

Simple but powerful change here.

2. Realize that your attitude is in your control.

“I have no time for anything” is a choice of a reality.

No other circumstances have to change, but your attitude → and you can start living in a world where you have all the time you need.

That’s why the previous point was about the language you choose. With the right language, your chances of choosing the right attitude increase.

Most stress and pain we experience in life are truly avoidable. Please, do not give up control over how you perceive and react to life's events.

Recognize your power to choose your perception of reality, and it may just become the most impactful thing you do to dramatically raise the quality of your life.

This is a whole new level of experiencing life.

It’s within reach.

3. Understand that we all get 168 hours in a week.

The question is, where does it all go?

• Third of it, you sleep.

• Third of it (or more), you work.

• The rest is up to you.

You can always find at least 30 minutes per day to dedicate it to what’s important.

30 minutes per day is just 2% of your day, but:

• It is 3.5 hours per week.

• 15 hours per month.

• 180 hours per year.

Where will you be in a year if you bring intentionality to those 30 minutes?

• Will you learn a new skill?

• Will you reach your next level of physical fitness?

• Or maybe just raise the quality and experience of your life because you’ll start walking outside for 30 minutes every day?

By thinking you don’t have enough time, you are missing out on 180 hours of investment into your health, energy, and personal growth.

PRO TIP:

Take a look at your screen time stats to see how much time this week you spent on:

• Tiktok

• Instagram

• Whichever other apps make the top 5 for you.

If you have a few hours for social media or gaming, you can find 30 minutes per day to work on raising the quality of your life.

Big idea #2: From overstretched to overdelivering.

High performers overdeliver.

But I’ll repeat it again and again, that if you overcommit, you cannot overdeliver.

(Unless you are okay with burning out along the way.)

How to overdeliver:

1. Identify your priorities.

2. Allocate >60% of your week to needle-moving activities.

3. Do your best to cut out the rest (drop, delegate, or optimize).

The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, can be an incredibly effective strategy here to focus on what truly matters.

Step 1: List all tasks

Start by listing all the tasks, responsibilities, commitments, and projects you have on your plate.

Don’t leave anything out, big or small.

Step 2: Identify the 20%

The amount of effort you put in is not the primary driver of your results.

Where you direct that effort — is.

Per the 80/20 principle, it’s just a small fraction of tasks that generates the most impact towards your goals.

Which tasks drive the majority of your results?

Think about these tasks in terms of:

• Am I great at it?

• Does it bring me joy?

• Does it generate value?

• Does it create a positive impact?

• Does it bring me closer to my goal? (revenue/growth/culture/etc)

These are your needle-moving activities.

Your effort should be directed at them.

Step 3: Evaluate the rest

Next, let’s look at the tasks that didn’t make the cut.

As you go through them, ask:

• Can I drop it?
  What tasks provide little to no value?
  Can these be eliminated without significant impact?

• Can I delegate it? 
  What can be effectively done by someone else?
  Consider expertise, cost of delegation vs. impact.

• What can be optimized?
  For tasks that must stay, how can they be done more efficiently?
  Think automation, systematization, and system improvement.

Step 4: Implement and monitor

1. Shift your focus to the need-moving tasks.

2. Delegate, drop, or optimize the rest.

3. Regularly review this process to adapt to changes in your goals and priorities.

PRO TIPS:

Daily reflection: At the end of each day, assess which activities truly moved the needle. This helps in fine-tuning your ability to identify impactful tasks.

Weekly planning: Allocate time each week to plan your focus areas, ensuring you’re allocating at least 60% of your time and energy to those high-impact tasks. (If needed, review these advanced time-boxing strategies.)

External feedback: Ask mentors, coaches, or your team for feedback to get external perspectives on where your focus should be.

Remember, the goal is not just doing more, but doing more of what matters.

Big idea #3: From people pleasing and misery to self-assured, happy, and successful.

Saying YES to everything was good advice when you were in your 20s, trying to figure out what you enjoy, what you dislike, and what kind of opportunities are out there.

Today, if you know what your goals are, you have to change your mindset when it comes to other people’s requests.

1. Saying NO should be your default.

2. Setting and communicating your boundaries is a must.

3. No one can break your boundaries, but you.

We did a deep dive into the art of setting healthy boundaries in one of the previous issues.

Please refer to it if you find that there are areas in your life which could benefit from setting stronger boundaries.

Big idea #4: From overwhelm to clarity.

For the scope of today’s topic, clarity can be broken down into:

• Clarity about your direction in life.

• Clarity about your goals.

• Clarity about today.

Feeling clarity about your direction in life 
→ makes setting goals easier, which in turn
→ makes prioritizing your daily actions easier.

Prioritized daily action = goodbye, overwhelm!

1. Getting clear about your direction in life

It’s not the main topic today, but I want to leave you with one of my favourite exercises: The 3 Most Important Questions (MIQs)

Take advantage of it in your High Performance HQ → Yearly plan → Life visioning.

2. Setting goals

This is yet another topic we went over in one of the earlier issues: Productive Goal-setting.

3. Prioritizing daily action

Next, it is crucial to differentiate:

• your routines 
  from

• your daily tasks.

You’ll be surprised how many people get it wrong; and it’s where overwhelm and frustration sink in.

You are doing so much, but the progress isn’t there:

• You work out every day.

• You make your green juice every day.

• You journal and manifest your dreams every day.

  …but reality hasn't caught up?

Maybe because after you’ve done all that, half a day has passed, but all you did for your work was responding to other people’s agenda (a.k.a. emails, DMs, slacks)…

It is 1 PM and you are exhausted.

Remember what I said earlier, effort does not equal results.

You can have an amazing routine.

But if you spend all your best energy on it, when will you actually do the work that brings you closer to the end goal?

Routines are GREAT, but prioritized daily action is a MUST.

These days, I am running a 2.5-hour routine every morning, but only because it doesn’t drain me, and my priorities get done before lunch.

If your priorities keep on being passed on to the next day, reassess the impact your morning routine has on you.

Maybe you don’t benefit from your 4-hour morning routine.

Maybe all you need is a 10-minute one:

1. Wake up on time. Don’t hit snooze.

2. Drink a big glass of water (with a pinch of salt for electrolytes).

3. Stretch for the remaining 8 minutes.

Win.
Win.
Win.

All you need is 10 minutes to start the day on a high note with 3 small wins.

Then, jump straight into priority action.

Finding the right balance between routines and priority actions is essential for everyone.

Just as it's important not to confuse the two.

And allow this balance to evolve over time as your life changes.

The Productivist Challenge: Identify one priority for the following day & do it daily.

Each evening, as you wrap up your day and look ahead, select ONE priority task for the following day.

This task should be so pivotal that making progress on it, or better yet, completing it, will make your day ultra-productive.

Commit to tackling this task in the first part of your day. Experience the satisfaction and momentum that come from completing your most crucial task before lunch.

Give this challenge a try this week.

It could very well become the single most impactful habit for boosting your productivity and feeling a great sense of progress.

The Productivist Question

Imagine this:

Next week, your schedule allows you only two hours for work, with the remainder dedicated to a family vacation or training.

You have these precious two hours on Monday morning before you must set aside all work-related activities for the rest of the week.

What will you accomplish in those two hours?

This question isn't just hypothetical; it's a tool for honing your focus.

It challenges you to distill your work down to its absolute essentials — identifying the tasks that are truly critical.

The answer will demonstrate what matters most in your professional life, guiding you to prioritize effectively not just for this scenario, but as a regular practice.

Have an ultra-productive week ahead!

Valeriya

PS: Warm welcome to all the new joiners! DM me on LinkedIn to say hi!

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