I LOVE that most people don’t work on weekends.
Less people emailing, calling, texting, Skyping, Tweeting, and swinging by my office (Starbucks) usually leads to far greater productivity.
My weekends are usually spent in education & contemplation. Reading, planning, envisioning.
Right-brained tasks, rather than left-brained tasks. Working ON the business, rather than IN the business.
Without distraction, the mind of an entrepreneur is free to see it’s pursuits from 30,000 feet. To recognize strengths, weakness, opportunities, & threats that are obscure from a narrower perspective.
But it got me thinking,
Why does it have to be this way?
Why do emails, calls, and other channels of distraction have to be SO distracting from Monday to Friday (or ever)?
They don’t.
But we often allow them to be, simply because we’re okay with other people controlling our most valuable asset — our time.
Life is easier when other people just tell us what to do.
Of course, it’s perfectly fine not to work on weekends. But regardless of which days you do your most focused work, let me ask you:
What percentage of your average day is proactive vs. reactive?
Proactive: taking initiative to FIND and DO creative, forward-thinking, specific tasks to advance your business and/or grow personally and/or build wealth (either immediately or long-term).
Reactive: letting emails, phone calls, & other people’s requests of you dictate the path your day takes.
I’d wager that the day of an average employee-minded individual (employee-minded meaning “get a job… go to work… go home… collect paychecks… wait for promotions… take one vacation a year… hate Mondays… love Fridays… love Thursdays because they’re almost Fridays”) is 10% proactive and 90% reactive.
Most entrepreneurs are only slightly better.
And most entrepreneurs fail.
I’m convinced that a successful entrepreneur MUST be 90% proactive in what they do with their time. Plain & simple, it’s in intentional, proactive, contemplative time that you gain insights that can make or save you millions of dollars.
It’s much easier to wake up with no specific vision for your day, check emails, respond to whatever’s on your immediate plate, and feel fine at the end of the day because you occupied 8 hours of your time.
But don’t confuse activity with productivity.
Accepting mere activity is lazy & does nothing to promote health, wealth, or happiness in your life.
Here’s a specific challenge for you…
Every single day this week, do something to:
- Grow physically
- Grow your business
- Grow your mind (this involves contemplation)
- Grow socially or relationally
- Grow spiritually
Success in any one of these areas requires balance across the five.
I’m far from perfect with this — and weakest, recently, on the physical and social – but it’s something I’m working on as we speak.
If you’re up for the challenge, let me know how it goes for you.
(And weekends count too) 
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Posted in Business, Life | Comments (6)
Posted on August 2nd, 2009
Nice post Andy.
Posted on August 3rd, 2009
Activity vs. Productivity, you got it right on Andy. Hope all is well in paradise. Take care.
Posted on September 10th, 2009
Nice post bro
Posted on November 12th, 2009
Great post Andy
You have written some truly inspiring posts.
Posted on December 2nd, 2009
Andy this is great!
You nailed me. I’m going to print this out for a daily reminder.
Don’t confuse activity with productivity.
Every day, do something to:
Grow physically
Grow your business
Grow your mind (this involves contemplation)
Grow socially or relationally
Grow spiritually
Success in any one of these areas requires balance across the five.
I started today.
Thank you so much. I needed to hear this.
Bill
Tampa Florida
Posted on May 27th, 2010
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