I have joined a 30-day Productivity Challenge and wanted to share my journey with you and invite you to join me. Click here – https://30dayproductivity.com – if you want to join me. I think that this could be a lot of fun, especially completing it as a community.

Today’s productivity challenge is to consider our goals with all the skills, systems, and techniques that we have discussed over the past three weeks. We are asked to consider each of the following questions.

Does what you wrote feel more attainable now than it did at the start of the course?

I already had a pretty good system of schedules and routines that had served me well. In hindsight, they were more of a matter of survival, day-by-day, rather than guiding me towards a defined and specific future. While I would write down what I wanted my ideal life to be, I didn’t actively work towards it. Yet, writing it down actually brought many of those “dreams” to reality. Which I still find amazing and surprising.

I do feel now that my life is more planned and directed. I no longer feel like I am just doing things automatically but diligently. I am more focused on what I am doing and I why I am doing it. I do find that it can be easy to get discouraged, particularly when you have a goal and every obstacle possible keeps getting in the way of that like goal.

Like having to replace my piano.

At the same time, I feel a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment for the things that are falling into place, albeit imperfectly. I have a consistent workout schedule that is actually working for me. I am building strength, improving my help, and have even lost a few pounds along the way. And, outside of a flare or two, my energy levels have significantly increased.

Based on what you’ve learned, would you change anything?

I feel like my systems on the one hand are detailed and organized, but on the other hand, maybe a little bit too complex. I prefer simplicity, so I am reviewing my Notion dashboard and continuing to refine it to make it work for me efficiently. And more productively.

Do you feel that the systems you’ve put in place will make it possible to make this ideal life a reality?

The short answer is “yes” because I feel more in control rather than letting life just move automatically through each day. After more than 14 of years of living on auto-drive, not only did I move through each day without much thought, but I had shut down emotionally, too. Responses became as automatic as my routines – just moving from point a to point b. Now, though, I am actively engaged at every level. And that makes life more real than it has been in the past.

Would you add anything new? Or remove anything you see as unnecessary?

I feel like this is almost identical to the question above asking if I would change anything. I believe that we need to adjust and adapt continuously. Rigid adherence prevents you from taking advantage of opportunities that are presented that you might not have considered before. Our journey cannot be controlled to a very specific straight line or path; sometimes, we have to zig and zag.

Do you think you were overly ambitious or not ambitious enough?

I think that my level of ambition is healthy, and that is important to me.

If you have followed along with me the last month, how would you answer these questions?