There are 7 Challenges that I help people overcome and for each challenge I have a Key they use that contains Systems guaranteed to yield positive results. Here are each of the 7 Challenges with the related Key and the Results achieved by using my Key – plus an analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses linked to each Key and how to achieve Balance:

Challenge #1: Uncertainty

Uncertainty is created when you are unclear about your life’s mission and how to live it through your whole life. You may be doing well in your personal life or in your work life but doing well in both areas (and in all sub-areas) can be elusive! You will struggle with a feeling of uncertainty when you don’t have every area of your life under control and you wish you were clear about what you need to do to make every area of your life fire on all cylinders.

The Key: When you are uncertain about your mission and how to live it through your whole life, you need to use Key #1: Live Your Mission and implement the mission management system to keep your mission in front of you and live it through all your Roles using Goals with scheduled Activities in a Weekly Planner.

The Results: Living Your Mission leads to increased clarity, motivation, job satisfaction, engagement, and a sense of direction, all of which contribute to higher personal productivity.

The Strength: The Strength behind Key 1 is Drive. When you excel at living your mission, you have every area of your life aligned with your mission statement and live through each of your Roles with great effectiveness. However, living in Hyper-Drive can be exhausting!

The Weakness: The Weakness behind Drive is Burnout – you can be so driven to get all areas of your life running at full speed with goals and activities that you struggle to take a break or escape for a season.

The Balance: When Burnout caused byDrive becomes a thief of productivity, you need to Revisit your Roles to make sure that you have a personal Role on your list that is given as much attention as the other Roles and that you work on your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health while taking time for being and not just for doing.

Challenge #2: Overwhelm

Overwhelm is what you experience where you have so much to do that you honestly do not know where to start and feel like you are drowning in commitments and unfulfilled promises or desires. You will struggle with the challenge of overwhelm when you don’t know what to do to achieve your goals, or how to manage everything that is on your action lists. You may resonate with the phrase: “too much to do and not enough time to do it.”

The Key: When you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start with everything on your plate you need to use Key #2: Manage Your Actions and implement the action management system to know what needs to be done about stuff in your life that is important to you and track your actions in a system you trust.

The Results: Managing Your Actions fosters a sense of control, clarity, and purpose, ultimately leading to greater personal productivity and achievement.

The Strength: The Strength behind Key 2 is Activity. When you excel at managing your actions, you have a comprehensive system to manage all your commitments and perform with extreme efficiency. However, living with Hyper-Activity can be exhausting!

The Weakness: The Weakness behind Activity is Overwhelm – you can be so focused on creating lists and ticking things off that you generate more Tasks than you are able to handle.

The Balance: When Overwhelm caused byActivity becomes a thief of productivity, you need to Review your Tasks to make sure that you have a comprehensive workflow for managing actions so that every Task is interrogated to find out whether it is something you need to Do, Delegate, Defer, or Delete and you purge your lists as often as possible.

Challenge #3: Inconsistency

Inconsistency is what happens when we set goals but do not work on the strategy and systems that are needed to move us closer towards achieving our goals. We end up being erratic, always starting and stopping things that would help us advance in life. James Clear says that we don’t “rise to the level of our goals – we fall to the level of our systems”.

The Key: When you struggle to be consistent in any area of life, you need to use Key #3: Build Your Habits and implement the habit management system to build habits by making them Obvious, Easy, Attractive and Satisfying and track them to ensure they become habitual.

The Results: Building Your Habits boosts efficiency, strategic focus, time management, concentration, stress reduction, creativity, and overall well-being.

The Strength: The Strength behind Key 3 is Routine. When you excel at building your habits, you develop routines that boost your efficiency, reduce stress in your life, and increase your sense of well-being that leads to increased productivity. However, living with Excessive Routine can be exhausting!

The Weakness: The Weakness behind Routine is Rigidity – you can become overly focused on tracking your habits that you end up overwhelmed, stressed, and fatigued with so much you need to sustain.

The Balance: When Rigidity caused byRoutine becomes a thief of productivity, you need to Reduce your Habits to make sure that you are able to allocate time, attention, and energy to each one and get them automated by making them obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.

Challenge #4: Busyness

Busyness may sound like something that is desirable and to be honest it does get rewarded in our world. However, it is not necessarily equated with productivity! If we are busy doing the wrong things then our efforts are a waste of time. Adam Grant says: “A busy life is not a symbol of status – it’s a symptom of trying to do too much for too many people.”

The Key: When you get too busy and can’t find time to do important things you need to use Key #14: Plan Your Time and implement the time management system to plan ahead, identify your priorities and create goals for all areas of your life.

The Results: Planning Your Time provides structure, clarity, and direction, which all lead to greater efficiency and goal attainment.

The Strength: The Strength behind Key 4 is Control. When you excel at planning your time, you create structure, clarity, and direction that helps you create the futures and achieve your goals. However, living with Extreme Control can be exhausting!

The Weakness: The Weakness behind Control is Micromanagement – you can become overly controlling of your time, tend towards workaholism, and miss out on opportunities that come from spontaneous happenings.

The Balance: When Micromanagement caused byControl becomes a thief of productivity, you need to Revamp your Calendar to make sure that you have enough preparation and processing time before and after events and set a limit on the number of appointments, meetings, or events that you add in a specific time frame.

Challenge #5: Distraction

Distraction happens when we allow things to distract us from important things we are doing. It is a serious challenge as it takes up to 23 minutes to regain our focus after we are distracted. Alexander Graham Bell said: “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”

The Key: When you find yourself distracted and unable to do what you set out to do you need to use Key #5: Focus Your Mind and implement the attention management system to live your passion, train your brain, and limit distractions.

The Results: Focussing Your Mind improving efficiency, reducing distractions, facilitating task completion, supporting decision-making, aiding time management, ensuring quality work, and fostering satisfaction.

The Strength: The Strength behind Key 5 is Hyperfocus. When you excel at focusing your mind, you improve efficiency, reduce distractions, improve work quality, and increase satisfaction. However, living with Constant Hyperfocus can be exhausting!

The Weakness: The Weakness behind Hyperfocus is Fixation – you can limit your ability to change priorities or address unexpected issues and neglect relationships.

The Balance: When Fixation caused by Hyperfocus becomes a thief of productivity, you need to Refocus your Attention to make sure that you know when to narrow your focus and when to broaden your focus to respond to all that is going on around you and the relationships that matter to you.

Challenge #6: Frustration

Frustration happens when you are not using your strengths to be productive and you end up feeling frustrated. When you don’t put enough emphasis on linking who you are with how you live and work you will end up frustrated because you are working against yourself. Partnering with yourself to be productive is critical as it leads to effectiveness in all areas of life!

The Key: When you become frustrated because you are working against who you are you need to use Key #6: Know Your Self and implement the self management system to accept who you are and only do what you are best at doing when you are at your best.

The Results: Knowing Your Self helps you optimise your strengths, manage your weaknesses, and navigate your personal challenges effectively.

The Strength: The Strength behind Key 6 is Excellence. When you excel at knowing yourself, you operate in the area of your strengths and accept work that matches your abilities, which helps you to get things done better, easily, and faster. However, living with High Excellence can be exhausting!

The Weakness: The Weakness behind Excellence is Perfectionism – you can become too focused on improving yourself, obsessed with flawlessness, which leads to procrastination and never satisfied with the quality of what you produce.

The Balance: When Perfectionism caused by Excellence becomes a thief of productivity, you need to Revise your Expectations to make sure that you know when your best is good enough, appreciate where you have come from, and give yourself grace when you fail to meet your expectations.

Challenge #7: Depletion

Depletion happens when you don’t work on renewing your energy and you end up depleted and unable to be productive. When you are depleted you don’t have the energy to show up and deliver what is needed in the moment. When you are drained you can do what is on your radar and this leads to overwhelm and inefficiency.

The Key: When you are too depleted to show up and deliver your best you need to use Key #7: Renew Your Energy and implement the energy management system to generate physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy to help you live a Productive Life.

The Results: Renewing Your Energy promotes focus, motivation, clear thinking, physical stamina, resilience to stress, and creativity.

The Strength: The Strength behind Key 7 is Stamina. When you excel at renewing your energy, you improve your ability to focus, show up with greater motivation, think more clearly, and reduce levels of stress in your life. However, living with High Stamina can be exhausting!

The Weakness: The Weakness behind Stamina is Hyperactivity – you can become hyperactive and live on an adrenaline high, never slowing down long enough to live in the moment and unable to embrace rest and be refreshed.

The Balance: When Hyperactivity caused byStamina becomes a thief of productivity, you need to Release your Energy to make sure that you are not becoming hyperactive or making excessive errors due to frenetic activity but adjust the rate at which you generate and consume energy.