this is the blog post form Asianefficiency.com , please help me read in natural speed. i hope by reading it you can learning something too ^^
Before I show you some sexy time management and productivity concepts, I first want you to do a simple exercise. It will only take you a couple minutes to do.
Grab a piece of paper and draw down a line in the middle of the paper. On the left, write down 5 things that are most important to you (order does not matter).
Done?
Now on the right side, write down 5 activities you spend most of your time doing (order does not matter).
No seriously, do this exercise before you continue reading this article. It will all make sense later what I’m about to show you.
Alignment
Now look at that list you’ve just made and how far out of alignment they are. The things you spend most of the time doing are not the things most important to you in life, or not connected. It’s like they look like two different lists from two different people.
In other words, you are not using your time efficiently because you are doing things that are not important to you.
It’s like having your car wheels out of alignment. You want your wheels to be perpendicular to the ground and in parallel with other wheels to ensure maximum tire life, maximum gas mileage, smooth steering and to prevent other car parts from breaking down. When your wheels are a couple of degrees out of alignment and you keep on driving, over time you will put a lot of stress on car parts and tires up to the point where things start to break down. Not to mention you’re burning unnecessary fuel due to inefficiency.
This concept also applies to your life. When you are out of alignment and you keep staying that way, you are wasting valuable time, energy and resources. Plus you might put a lot of stress on yourself when you can’t see that you aren’t working on things that are important to you. If your big goal is to become a successful entrepreneur but your number one activity is watching youtube videos there might be something off….
A couple years ago I did this same exercise (I was introduced to it by Eben Pagan) and it really made me think about how I should spend my time. A person whose actions are not aligned with their goals is not being productive. By the definition of productivity, you should be working on things that bring you closer to your dreams, aspirations, vision and goals. Anything else in relative is a waste of time.
When I first did this exercise, I scratched my head multiple times because it made me realize how unaligned my activities with my values were. Here’s my list when I did my exercise a couple years ago.
