I get a lot accomplished each day, and I also don’t experience burnout. However, it wasn’t always like this for me. I have struggled to get things done. I’ve also experienced and then healed from burnout. I’ve seen both sides of the coin.
My life fell out of balance several years ago, and I developed this process in its aftermath. I initially healed using The Artist’s Way program, but I learned that healing from burnout is only just the beginning. How do you keep from burning out again?
The answer, for me, has been the steps that I will share with you in this article. Here’s a look at how to be productive while staying in balance:
Develop a Personal Mission Statement
For me, everything changed for the better when I created my personal mission statement. Before I did, I filled my day with activities. I would stack my to-do list with activities, accomplish them, and then check them off. However, without a mission statement, these were just mindless activities. They didn’t have any meaning.
After I created the mission statement, everything changed. Suddenly, I found that I had a level of clarity that I had never experienced before. Things started to click in place for me, including getting accepted to an MBA program that had previously rejected me more than once. Now, every decision I make is measured against the mission statement.
Learn How to Say No
The mission statement wasn’t the only important detail here to my healing and growing productivity. I also had to learn how to say no. Surprisingly, the main person I had to learn how to say no to was myself. As an example, I am multi-lingual. I am fluent in German and I learned Greek as a child. I started to learn French and Spanish last year while also juggling my MBA program and maintaining my German and Greek.
Ultimately, I said “no” to my French and Spanish studies and took them off my plate. The MBA program was aligned with my mission, and in that moment, learning French and Spanish weren’t. Productivity is all about this give and take, and learning how to say no and setting boundaries.
Test the To Do List Against Mission
The mission statement is something that can anchor your daily activities. If you have a lot of items on your to-do list, the mission statement can help you narrow things down. For example, if an item on my to-do list isn’t aligned with my mission statement, I don’t do it. I simply walk away from the idea.
Without the extra step of honoring my mission, my list is filled with things I “should” do, not those that I am meant to.
This process has allowed me to work full time, write on the side, study ballroom dance, learn several languages at once, have a social life, regularly attend church, and last year, I even earned my MBA. I am exhilarated by what each day has in store.