Whatever it is you set out to accomplish, your first point of focus should not be on strategy.

This mistaken thought is the single foundational reason many leaders invest time, effort, energy and resources to much work that keeps them busy and sometimes overwhelmed but never productive.

Strategies are variables, but what is closer to being constant on the spectrum of productivity is ‘your results’.

Every desired result is strategy specific.

In other words, it is the measure of clarity you have about what results you want to achieve that will determine what strategy you need to employ.

This is so important because if you do not enhance the clarity you have of what exactly your desired results are (not what you think they are), you will spend a lot of time, resources, effort and focus on strategies that are good but incapable of producing the exact results you desire or have set out to accomplish.

That is the difference between ‘busy work’ and ‘productive work’.

Busy work is getting lost in a method of trial and error on what strategy may yield your desired results, while productive work is an effort geared towards discovering, understanding and deploying a strategy that is most suited to yield your desired outcome or results.

So what exactly are the results or outcomes you have set out to accomplish?

On a scale of 1 to 10, what level of clarity do you have of what it is you want to accomplish (not what you think it is)?

By what metrics will you measure your results?

What you don’t measure you cannot track, and what you do not track, you cannot improve, neither will it be a productive work.

Finally, what is the most suitable strategy (among a plethora of good strategies) that will help you attain your desired results?

Take some time to ponder on these questions and document your answers because busy work and productive work are demarcated by a thin line of understanding and heightened clarity.

Remember, it is not first about strategies but about being clear on what results you desire to accomplish.

As our faces are different, so are the pressures we face.

How I am able to navigate the demands and responsibilities of my daily existence on my path of purpose and leadership, may not be the same as how you handle yours.

The key isn’t to strive to model a person’s pattern of productivity but to find your rhythm.

What does that even mean?

Well, start by asking these two question, “what roles do you fill and what responsibilities are you tasked with in your daily life?”

Every music has its tempo, it’s pitch, it’s dynamism and it’s syncopation. As with music, so it is with life.

There is a rhythm to everything in life and the subject of productivity is really about finding your rhythm.

Do you remember the two questions I shared ealier?

“What roles do you fill and what responsibilities are you tasked with in your daily life?”

For what it’s worth and in due time, our lives will be measured NOT by how long we live, but by how much difference we made in the lives of others.

Productivity isn’t about tools, it’s about understanding that there’s a rhythm to everything in life and then finding yours.

So, what’s yours?