Smarter Goals. Sharper Mind. Fewer Excuses

You know that nagging voice? I had a productive day at home, ironing, grass cutting, kitchen tidy and an FTP test on my turbo trainer. All good… Sat in the evening, too tired to read as I am ready to start a new book and want to do it justice. Scrolled through Netflix; nothing took my fancy. Opened YouTube, nothing jumping out either. Quick game on Chess.com and that was it. It struck me I felt really guilty for being bored.

I mean, I have a MacBook Pro, iPhone 16, latest gen iPad, good internet, new book… i just felt guilty that I wasn’t maximising my time.

‘You should be doing more”

I seem to get that more and more. It pop’s up when I am quickly looking at a meme in the Instagram lads chat, or when YouTube is opened on my iPad pro. Now I am starting to think it is not laziness – it’s resource guilt. And it sometimes kills my productivity, without me realising it.

Why Feel Guilty About Wasting Time

I mean, there is a solid point here. I am not just imagining this. Time is a very valuable resource, alongside health; the most important to me. So where comes the problem? When I am thinking about productivity, my mind is drawn to the investment bankers/go go go types and make a direct link to constant output. Having friends live this life and be successful makes me feel like I should be doing more. Even though I don’t really need to be. The irony is I still feel that way and I think they would swap me. I am a present husband and father, have a great friendship group and active hobbies. Reality check due then: managing my energy surely must beat managing hours.

This week I am going to try to move away from ‘use every second’, to trying to block time intentionally for thinks – guilt thrives on ambiguity.

The Equipment Paradox

Ever bought a new fancy shiny tool, camera or app thinking this was the thing that was going to change your life and get you pursuing what excited you… only to let it gather dust and sit with a dead battery? Iv been there. Canon R8 for photography, SL lens, GoPro, lighting, microphone… all bought with great intentions but no YouTube channel worth mentioning has emerged.

Enter the equipment paradox – the more powerful tools you accumulate, the heavier the guilt when you don’t use them. This applies to me deeply and has helped me wrap my head around my recent feelings.

You’ve heard a million times – the best camera is the one available to you. When you have great stuff and it goes unused or not to the extent you hoped for, it can feel disheartening.

My link here is it’s not about the tech, but about creating systems to get yourself to use it.

Tip of The Week: Block Time, Don’t Maximise Every Second

My goal this week is to audit my tools, then pick one that I am actually going to use this week. And I am going to ignore the rest.

Stop Taxing Yourself With Guilt

Guilt does not get the work done.

Instead of the guilty mindset, I am reminding myself of why I made the purchases in the first place. What energy did I have? What new project excited me? I feel like the want to be more creative may well be the answer. Probably the same reason why I started this blog. A creativity outlet. Not necessarily to be heard, but to put something out there for myself, that I believe in, separate from career milestones.

So here’s to leveraging one resource at a time. Picking one priority, committing to a small action and giving myself the permission to ignore everything else.

New goal is to stop trying to maximise everything but to reduce friction so doing the thing I really want to do feels stupidly easy.

Good Enough – New Rule

My perfectionism has fuelled my guilt. I want to fix that.

This week, if any effort moves the needle in the right direction (even if it is charging the dead camera battery in the R8), then I am classing it as good enough and therefore progress and a positive step. No more upgrading tools – no time now need be wasted looking for upgrades and review videos. I have the best gear, it not is up to me to use it. SO I guess the saying, upgrading gear wont make you creative, really does apply. Well to me at least.

Reminder to myself – The POWER of compounding. Progress compounds the same as momentum. Guilt doesn’t move me to achieving goals and desired outcomes.

Clear Head

I don’t need another productivity hack. Fewer distractions, fewer open tabs and less time fretting over what I ‘should’ be doing.

Start with one thing. One Tool. One block of purposeful time. Zero Guilt.

“Don’t managed your time. Manage your leverage”.

If you read this and feel like me, you’re trying to focus on one tool, one block of tiem, zero guilt, you might find the Momentum Sheet helpful – it is what I am using this week to keep myself on track.

You’re not lazy. You’re underutilised. Stop taxing yourself with guilt – start leveraging what you already have.

Wish me luck.