Purposeful Productivity Podcast

Creating and starting on a goal is easy, and in terms of achieving them, it can be a challenging and lengthy process that you can get frustrated and discouraged frequently. So, what do you do? Of course, you don’t have to give up. There are other ways to feel more gratifying while waiting for your breakthrough, and you can still be productive while you’re on that journey to accomplishing your dreams!

Creating a productive space is very crucial in achieving your goals. How do you make sure you can finish your daily tasks without burning out? How do you manage your week and ensure you still have time to do the things you love doing outside of work? How do you prevent the stress of deadlines? These are all the questions we go through as we find our way to constructing our daily routines.

Understanding the different circumstances in working with a team is necessary. With it, you discover and highlight each team members’ ethics, perspectives, and skills that will help in accomplishing specific projects. We need to consider context, expectations, boundaries, and transparency when approaching different personalities in one group, especially in terms of a remote work environment.

In this episode, I share some strategies for pursuing your goals and priorities without denying yourself any activities. You get to know how you can collaborate with people and leverage each other's strengths in daily tasks, why, and how certain things need to occur first before you feel accessible enough to do the rest of your activities. Discover how you should choose your battles wisely while having the freedom to explore what you want to learn.

Goal planning can be challenging if you think of it long term, and it can even be a struggle for others, especially if they don't know what they want, why they want it, and how to get it. I know how exhausting it can be to keep figuring out all of these things within a given timeline, but in this episode, I share with you a practical method I've been practicing in mapping out my goals using only 1/4 of my time.

How do you personally reflect? There are different ways; it can be through journaling or reflection exercises. We can ask ourselves questions that help us find our innermost thoughts and emotions to uncover things that we can do more of and reduce, which enable us to make better decisions. Join me in this episode as I walk you through a simple yet very peaceful activity that'll guide you in knowing what you want to achieve for the upcoming year, 2022. Discover what reflective questions you can ask yourself to have a clear plan before the year ends and make your short and long-term goals much easier to fulfill.

Understanding the real benefits and discovering creative ways to do it helps you build a habit of gratitude. And it is important to equip yourself with positivity because not every day is a happy day, and no one is an exemption. There will be times that you'll feel down or sad, but whatever it is, having the ability to adapt makes it more manageable and less stressful. And in this episode, I share with you how gratitude can help you improve your decision-making skills and how it can reinforce optimism. I also discuss some of the simple and effective ways to implement it right away so you can get through stressful-life situations much smoother moving forward.

No one likes to get burnt out. But it's not so easy to prevent it, especially if you are not aware of the signals. Sad to say, sometimes, having too much on your plate seems to be a normal thing in your daily life. You think that being bombarded and loaded with so many tasks is what you need to get your goal. So you continue to accept more without setting boundaries because you think it's OK. However, IT IS NOT OK. IT IS NOT CUTE. Because these things give so many opportunities to let burnout get into your system without you knowing it because burnout happens all at once. Today you feel fine even though you've been overworking, but tomorrow you suddenly snap, and everything comes crashing down.

Letting guilt stop you from prioritizing yourself can also have long-term bad effects. It can trigger negative feelings even more like stress, burnout, fatigue, etc. Moreover, it also stirs you from enjoying the fruits of your labor, which adds more pressure and dissatisfaction at work. But jumpstarting your self-care activities should not be difficult because it's supposed to make you feel lighter & healthier. That's why I listed nine simple ways you can practice to pave the way for self-prioritization and remove the guilt.

Burnout is now considered a legitimate medical disorder. And it happens when your resources to cope with your stressors are exhausted, leaving you frustrated, drained, and demotivated. Sadly, these negative emotions are similar to the symptoms of depression. Moreover, stressors come in different forms, and each of them needs a different approach. In the same way, a cup of water may be sufficient for a baby plant and highly insufficient for a dying plant.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Trixie worked in advertising for almost four years. In her own words, it was a "patayan" culture where 2 hours of sleep was considered a luxury. Then the pandemic hit and one of the industries badly affected was events and advertising. Trixie lost her job. However, it was the blessing in disguise that Trixie did not expect. She finally had the time to do activities she always wanted, like blogging, vlogging, and hosting. Freelancing opportunities also opened up for Trixie. Most importantly, she can focus on Trixie’s Kitchen and grow the business.

In our last few episodes, I’ve introduced you to my friend Ate RJ Vargas, who is a highly emotional and intuitive person but is also someone who didn’t know how to stay productive. In today’s episode, we relive her story, share with you the strategies I’ve used to help her find her purpose and increase her productivity, and talk about the science behind the techniques.

Forming habits is one of the most challenging tasks that we take on in our lives. This is especially true when the goals we set are too high that they become unsustainable. More often than not, we end up not meeting our goals and giving up almost instantly. We punish ourselves and think that we're such a failure. We compare ourselves to others and feel disappointed. Some even fall into “paralysis,” like what happened with my friend RJ Vargas from the last two episodes. And with every failure, we feel as though our time and energy have been wasted, and we are back to square one. But this is where I stop you and tell you that it's not true.

Asking for help is a tough decision to make for others because they're afraid to look weak. But admitting to yourself that you NEED help is a very courageous thing to do. It helps you grow exponentially and make decisions wisely.

If you have bad relationships at home or in the office, it’s hard to maintain your focus. Conversely, saying yes to everything asked of you is also not good. Setting boundaries is key to staying productive.

There are many emotions and underlying reasons for feeling lazy. One of the most common is mental exhaustion. You’re not lazy. You’re overwhelmed. Having too many items on your plate eats up your “pizza” of attention until there’s no more slice left for you. Your brain can no longer process new things.

Understanding productivity means understanding ourselves first. Productivity is very personal. To find out what makes us productive, we must know what we like and don’t like, how we work, the kinds of people we attract and are attracted to. The better we know ourselves, the better the decisions we make. We become purposeful.

I envision the hustle culture to stop: the mindset of sacrificing your health and relationships to get what you want out of your career or business. Staying up late or not getting enough rest is not something to be proud of. I want to change this way of thinking and raise awareness on creating a healthy relationship with work and forming realistic expectations of ourselves. I will share with you unexpected productivity strategies that work. I want to help YOU become more productive without going insane.