We often make resolutions for ourselves, but not in the right way. You see, when most people talk about New Year’s resolutions, they conflate a few things. They say things like: “I want to become fluent in another language, lose 50 pounds, and make a million dollars.” Sound familiar? If you say that, you’re listing the totality of your dreams. In other words, you’re answering the question: “What do I want in order for me to live my ideal life?” That’s not a resolution. That’s a vision statement, i.e. a massive life overhaul.
A resolution – in my opinion – is not synonymous with a goal; it’s merely a promise to yourself to fulfill a goal. So for the above vision statement, one goal could actually be to lose 50 pounds. But there’s more to it, and it involves specificity. We can’t just say that we have a goal. We have to take action to move towards that goal. That’s where your resolution comes into play, but in order for it to actually mean something, the two have to be connected. They go hand in hand.

The best kind of productivity is the one that creates impact and opportunity for you as well as other people.

Quiet productivity is all the unseen work that someone does to get to the next level – the early mornings, late nights, or other trade offs that are made in order to facilitate change. You see, what we perceive as someone’s overnight success is only ever surface-level stuff. Only you pay attention to you. No one else (unless you have a partner, or work with me one-on-one) gets to witness the hard work first-hand. Only the tip of an iceberg appears above the surface. In this month’s productivity report, we tackle loud productivity vs. quiet productivity, and when to choose which.

There are two types of goals: fixed goals (short-term goals) and flexible goals (long-term goals), and it’s important to understand which you are focused on when planning your year and goal-setting.