Staying on Top When Your World's Upside Down

“Somewhere deep inside we all desire happiness and peace through authentic productivity. I say productivity because by being productive, in an authentic way, we make the world a better place. We sustain a support system that pays if forward and all of humanity shares in the bountiful harvest. It’s a win/win deal.” Jay Johnston: A Leap of Faith Takes Courage

Here’s a personal productivity system that’s fun! Create a mental cartoon task force and empower each of its members to take charge of a certain phase of your life, to push you ahead when you feel like sitting it out. Here are some suggested task force members:

A bean counter, complete with green eyeshades and a Bob Cratchet ink quill, to give a cold eye to every expenditure, and make you sit down with your checkbook at least once a week to balance your finances.

A Marine drill instructor to give you some old-fashioned high decibel motivation when you can’t drag your tail out of bed on those cold mornings, or can’t bring yourself to doing those unpleasant jobs like cleaning out the garage or making a networking call.

A university professor who can take charge when you have important material to review or new subjects to learn. You may find that the professor has a hard time keeping the Marine drill instructor out of the picture for very long, since there is no end to unpleasant jobs that need to be done, so give him or her a strong backbone.

A Zen master full of wisdom and peace to help you always keep your attention in the right here and now.

A circus clown to keep reminding you that all work and no play will make you dull, listless, and a bore to be around.