Is this the most important thing?

This question has helped me a lot over the years:

"Is this the most important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?"

It comes from Greg Mckeown's Essentialist book. I love it because it boosts my productivity by protecting my energy, focus, and time.

But sometimes it makes me feel bad.

I've discovered it has to do with the "I should be doing" part of the equation.

Yes, it's key to ask myself difficult questions and to ponder trade offs.

But if I want to sustain my progress, experience flow, and stay tuned on my longer game, I've found that, sometimes, the most important thing to do is to procrastinate.

The same way not every match for a tennis player has a prestigious trophy on the line, not every productivity session needs to be a consequential one. There's a time and place for winning tournaments, and a time and place to slam the ball without keeping the score.

That's why a couple of months ago I tweaked the phrasing a bit. The result was liberating. This my new hacked version:

"Is this the most important thing I choose to be doing with my time and resources right now?"

This new version still keeps me on the hook, even to a greater degree, because now I'm not obliged to do what I should do. Rather, I'm committed to what I choose to do.

Do you have a favorite question key to your productivity practice? Hit reply to let me know.

Thanks for reading,

Alberto