Personal Productivity Secrets (Spoiler: It's Bacon)

@danielbelltn asked this question on Twitter the other day:

I'd like to know how productive folks do life without workaholic behavior. Any ideas?

I, being the over opinionated person that I am sometimes prone to be, had an answer.

I think strategic prioritization, always moving forward, and knowing when to Not to do something. Not that I do this well :) 

In the interest of posterity, I will leave my "to Not to" grammatical shame intact.  Also, notice my patented (not really) use of self deprecation to emphasize my humility.  It's easy, folks, when you have mad skills like this.

So I clicked "Tweet" and went on doing something else, but kept coming back to my answer and thinking a simple thought.  If I have a legitimate answer to a question I've asked myself, and I think that the way to get where I need to be is to do... Why am I not doing it?

My go to answer is that life happens.  And it does.  Right now life is happening.  I'm writing this blog post (my first in months) at 1:30am, after having cleaned the house at 12am, because life has been happening and it's the best chance I've had.  But at 30, that's not a good enough answer anymore. 

I thought about that answer.  And I thought about it some more.  And several hours later I'm writing about it because it makes sense.  It's doable as a mantra.  For example, I'm fat.  (I know, you think it's all muscle when you look at me.  It's not.  It's really as if someone took a bathtub filled with lard and poured it into my body.  Yeah, that's gross.  So's all the fat I'm carrying around with me.  I digress.)  Since I was at my lowest weight in college (a point where I still wasn't small), I've gained almost 80 pounds.  Let's apply my three points to losing that baggage.

Strategic Prioritization
First things first, I need to stem the tide of overeating and introduce some type of exercise.  I can do without running shoes, go all organic, or drinking whey protein.  What I need to do is not eat a piece of pizza (okay, 2), a sandwich, an oatmeal cream pie, and a honey bun (You can judge me. I give you permission).  And I need to move fast at some point each day.

Always Move Forward
During one of past attempts to lose weight (one that was fairly successful, actually, but died a painful death when stress and depression slapped me silly), I made a goal to make "small choices".  Any healthy choice, no matter how small, was a step toward better health.  Maybe I skip the salt, or park at the back of the parking lot, or eat a Hershey's kiss instead of the Chic-Fil-a vanilla shake (otherwise known as the Cup of YummuliciousneI don't need toss).  The concept is always keep moving toward your goal.  The smallest step is still progress.

Know When to NOT do Something
Okay, so my example is going to break down here.  What I really mean by this is that we have to know when to say "No" to projects and requests to come our way.  I know to lose weight you have to say "No" to food, but the spirit isn't the same me thinks.  So, I'll just leave it at that.

Okay, I'm done.  Go live.

P.S. No, bacon does not actually make an appearance in this blog post.  Except that it just did.  Self-fulfilling prophecy.