I have to be honest with all of you: the last few weeks have been a real struggle for me. And, I tell you this not for sympathy or anything like that, but because this has taught me 2 things:

1. We all fall and need to find the strength get back up again.
2. If you don’t put your health first, everything else WILL fall apart

 Let’s start with number 2 first.

As a self-proclaimed productivity nerd, getting LOTS of things done has always been my main goal. But, while reading my current book, The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey, I learned that my (common) way of thinking about productivity isn’t really accurate. Instead, Chris (brilliantly) explains in the book that “productivity has nothing to do with how much you do, and everything to do with how much you accomplish.” Let me say that last part again because I’ve found this is the key to turning things around for myself…

Productivity has everything to do with how much you accomplish.

Personally, I have a tendency to fall into a very common trap: get lots of little things done so you feel productive. But, if those little things aren’t adding up to big goals that get you where you want to be, they aren’t that effective at all. So, now I take Chris’ advice and at the end of the day I ask myself 1 question (which is now written on the front of my bullet journal as a reminder):

“Did I get done what I intended to do today?”

If the answer is yes, it was a productive day. If the answer is no, I think about how I can make tomorrow better.

Now, how does this relate to putting your health first? I’ll explain.

Because I’ve been so focused on checking things off my to-do list recently, I’ve been neglecting the things that make me feel the most energized like running, yoga, eating well, drinking lots of water, and meditation (which if you check out my last 2 Monthly Wrap-Ups here and here, you’ll notice 25 days of meditation as a goal twice!) And, my body made this issue blatantly obvious when I dealt with 5 different health issues all in a matter of 40 days!

So, the key to productivity (besides rethinking how we look at it) is making sure you put your wellbeing first. Without a healthy body and mind, there’s no possible way we could be the productive person we each want to be.

Now, let’s tackle number 1: We all fall and need to find the strength get back up again.

As you can see from what I’ve told you so far, I’ve been struggling to find my momentum again after overworking myself. I may be writing posts for you each week as I promised, but I’ve been struggling to find the energy to post on social, wake up as early as usual, and do my usual extra behind the scenes work—and I really miss it all!

Accepting all of this has been hard. I don’t enjoy oversleeping, feeling rushed in the mornings, and wishing I could do more before I get to the office (you all know how much I love my mornings), but I’ve realized that I need to accept that this is a setback I’m fully capable of coming back from. It will take time, energy, leaning on the people around me for support, and a lot of hard work, but the end results of being back where I want to be will be worth it. And THAT is what you need to focus on when you have setbacks: THE HARD WORK WILL BE WORTH IT.

So, today, if you are feeling discouraged about where you are with anything in your life (your health, exercising enough, eating well, losing weight, being productive, whatever it might be) remind yourself this is just an obstacle you need to get over to be the person you and I both know you can be. And, we’re all human and are on this journey together.

If you ever want to chat with me about your setbacks, I’m here for you! You can always comment on a post, email me at withcheryl.co@gmail.com, or reach out to me on social.

YOU’VE GOT THIS!