How to Create More Freedom in Your Life

Do you have the freedom you desire—to take time off, enjoy your hobbies, spend time with friends and family, pursue your passions and goals, and live your life fully?

No? You aren’t alone.

Most people would like more freedom. They feel stuck meeting obligations, fulfilling responsibilities, and tackling the chaos of their lives.

I’m no different. Or, I should say, I was no different. I’m changing. Every day I’m creating more and more freedom in my life. And it’s great! I have more free time than I did a year ago but still accomplish what I need or want to accomplish each day.

How am I doing that? By focusing on productivity.

Productivity is Necessary If You Want Freedom

If you think productivity is of concern only for those who work in businesses or manufacturing, you’re wrong. It’s time to reframe your idea of productivity.

Definitions of “productivity” typically say the word means “the effectiveness of productive effort.” Think of it this way: How effective are the efforts you make to produce something? You might be producing a better relationship, a healthier body, a clean kitchen or house, a manuscript, a podcast, or a widget of some sort. It doesn’t matter. If you produce it efficiently, you are productive.

How Productive are You (Really)?

Productivity is the key to freedom—in every area of your life. The more productive you are, the more freedom you have personally and professionally. Why? Because you are getting things done effectively. You are producing your work, finishing household tasks, completing your workout, getting the kids off to bed in an effective manner. You’re not wasting time or energy.

People see me as extremely productive. For example, last night one of my Certified High Performance Coaching clients said, “When I accomplish one or two things on my to-do list, I’m excited. Then I think, ‘But Nina would have accomplished four or five things on her to-do list in that amount of time.’”

Of course, I don’t want her to feel bad about her accomplishments—and she is daily becoming more productive. But her thoughts about me demonstrate that she sees me as productive.

On the other hand, I typically don’t see myself as productive. When I got involved in high-performance work, I realized how unproductively I lived my life.

I wasted a ton of time! I was on Facebook and Twitter too often and long. I spent a ton of time looking at emails and following links to interesting things on the Internet, like videos and programs—and then I’d spend time watching them or trying to decide if I should invest in the online course on my screen. (Do you know what I mean?)

I would procrastinate before starting a project, like a new book or blog post. It would take me hours to focus on this job. In fact, sometimes I didn’t begin until 10 or 11 p.m. even though I’d planned to start first thing in the morning—and might even have a looming deadline. Where the heck had the day gone? (Ever been there and done that?)

Away from the computer, I would stand in the kitchen and sort through catalogs and junk mail. I’d call my sister rather than emptying the dishwasher or making dinner. I’d sit and watch television when I could have been folding laundry at the same time or reading a book or learning something new. (I have purchased so many online courses I’ve not started and books I’ve never read. Can you say the same for yourself?)

I realized none of these habits were giving me the freedom I desired. In fact, they were curtailing my freedom because they prevented me from being productive.

When you look at your life, can you honestly say you are productive? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most productive and 1 the least productive, how would you rate your daily productivity?

A year or two ago, I’d have given myself a four or a five. (Others would have rated me much higher, I’m sure.)

And here’s the kicker, the less productive my day, the less time I had to do what I wanted.

4 Ways to Improve Your Productivity

On the other hand, I knew that the more productive my day, the more time I would have to play and focus on other interests.

So I began learning about productivity. And I applied what I learned.

Suddenly, I was getting a lot more done in less time! And that meant I had time on my hands. Well, maybe not a lot of time at first, but more free time…and that amount was growing!

How did I achieve this? I employed some high-performance strategies, such as:

1. Focus your attention.

If I needed or wanted to complete a task, I would turn off all distractions, like the little sound my email service makes when I have received an email and the sound that Facebook makes when I get a message.

I can fold a lot more laundry in a lot less time if I do it right in the laundry room or without the television on. I can write a blog post, like this one, in a lot less time and more efficiently if I use Scrivener, and put it on the full-screen composition mode. (Everything else on my computer is then blocked out; I only see my Scrivener document.)

2. Create Blocks of Time (for Everything)

In high performance, block time is a strategy applied to creative time. However, you can use it for almost any task or activity. And that’s how I use it.

I block time on my daily calendar for the things I need to do and want to do. For example, I block time first thing in the morning for my morning rituals. Then, I block time for exercise or writing. And then I schedule in time around clients for other tasks, such as email, phone calls, blogging, or promotion.

Time blocking keeps me on task and focused. When you transfer your to-do list to your calendar, amazing things happen. You get shit done!

3. Energize

I now do a lot of little things (and a few big ones) daily to help myself have the energy to stay focused and move through my daily tasks quickly and with higher performance. Here are four energizing strategies I use. These have been the big needle movers for me:

• Sleep 7–8 hours per day
• Drink a lot of water
• Get up every hour or hour and move my body (I aim for a break every 50 minutes.)
• Exercise daily—time at the gym, a bike ride, yoga class, or a walk

Right now you may think you don’t have the time—the freedom—to sleep more, take frequent breaks or exercise daily. It’s not true. Make the time. You can do it if you truly want freedom.

My husband said he didn’t have time for exercise. Now he gets up at 4:45 a.m. Monday through Friday to go to the gym before work. And he works out on Saturday as well. He began going to the gym just three days per week, but after about six weeks, he added more days. Now exercise is a habit—as is going to sleep no later than 10:30 p.m.

4. Prioritize

I’m known for having way too many projects going at once. I drive myself crazy by trying to do too much in one day, month, or year.

I now try to keep my priorities straight—for the day, the week, the month, and so on. And sometimes I just have to drop something that I know I cannot do well if I add it into the mix.

I use a daily planner to help me keep my priorities in front of me. I have a place for three major projects (no more) and a to-do list for each. I also have a place to write down who I need to contact or what emails or phone calls I’m waiting on. And I have a to-do list for the day. These are the “must do” items for a 24-hour period.

This daily planner also has one more category: future to-do items or “other.” Here I make a list of everything else I wish I could get done or plan to get done at a later date. It’s a great way to not forget good ideas and to get projects I can’t handle immediately out of sight.

I update this planner every day before I leave my desk.

Make Productivity a Habit

For me, these four strategies have become habits. And because of these new habits, I’m more productive and have more freedom.

As soon as I fall back into my old habits, I lose freedom…fast.

That’s the point. We all have habits. Some help and some hinder us. If you want more freedom in your life, develop more productive habits. That’s when your level of productivity—personally and professionally—will improve.

I continue to work on productivity daily. I’d now rate myself a 6 or 7 on the productivity scale. I want to be a 10! I still need to level up…a lot. Even on a day like today, I know I could have gotten more done had I been more focused, stuck to my block time and priorities, and ensured I had the energy I needed for the tasks on my daily planner. In fact, because I didn’t, I’m running way behind.

Becoming more productive is a process. I work at it every day.

And now that I’ve written this post, I’m free to go to the gym. Not that I don’t have other things to accomplish; I do. I’ll do them when I return—refreshed and ready to effectively produce some new and positive results.

How did you rate yourself on the productivity scale mentioned above?

Photos copyright: Unsplash / Pixabay