Episode 24: Purpose Over Perfection: How to Align Your Productivity with Your Core Values
Are you tired of productivity systems that seem built for someone else’s brain? Ever feel like a failure when yet another fancy planner ends up buried under a pile of unopened mail?
Maybe you’re not the problem.
In this episode of Get It Together, Weirdo, get your shit together coach and host Sarah Bowser tackles the messy reality of productivity for real, imperfect humans, especially those with neurodivergent or easily distracted minds. Sarah covers why traditional productivity systems fall short, how to align your To Dos with your core values, and what it really means to embrace your wonderfully weird imperfection and still make meaningful progress.
If you’re craving a more human, purpose-driven approach to time management, this episode’s for you.
Want to stay in the loop on new episodes, posts, and other tidbits that Sarah shares? Go to thatweirdnerdymom.com to hop on her email list, or join her for weekly coworking on Mondays.
Read the transcript below, or get a PDF of the transcript here.
Prefer to read as a blog post? Click here.
What you’ll learn in this episode
- Why most planners, task apps, and other productivity systems weren’t designed for your wonderfully weird brain
- How to identify your core values and use them to guide your productivity choices
- What perfectionism has to do with your burnout and how to break free from it
- Why you should just ditch tasks that make your stomach knot up
- How celebrating small wins can rewire your brain for progress over pressure
- Why experimenting is the key to finding systems that actually work for your unique self
Noteworthy quotes from this episode
“Those picture-perfect planners weren’t made for your brain. They were made for an imaginary productivity unicorn.”
“You’re allowed to prioritize your real life.”
“Maybe you’ve failed at a hundred different planners and systems before. Cool! That just means you have research data.”
“You don’t need a 5:00 AM routine with 17 steps. You need space to find what makes sense for your life.”
“Perfection is overrated. Progress is magical. And your weird, wonderful way of doing things? That’s your superpower.”
Transcript
Welcome to Get It Together Weirdo, the podcast where we dive into ways to help you figure out how you can tackle your to-dos, keep track of your side quests, and manage your time in a way that works for your brain so you can focus on nerding out on the things that make you do a happy dance. I’m Sarah Bowser, your get your shit together coach and resident weirdo here to guide you on your journey. So let’s get it together, Weirdo.
Hey there, my wonderfully weird friend. Welcome back to another episode of Get It Together Weirdo where we toss perfectionism out the window, light a candle for our half, use planners, and get real about figuring out systems that actually work for, you know, our brains.
Have you ever bought a planner that looked like it was going to change your life? I mean, this thing had everything. Colored tabs, inspirational quotes, space for your morning routine, your goals, your meal plan, probably even your horoscope. You fill it in for a week, maybe two if you’re really ambitious, and then it just kind of ends up under a pile of mail or maybe shoved into the back of a drawer gathering dust while you wonder, why can’t I stick to this stuff?
Yeah, been there, lived there, still pay taxes there sometimes. And that, my friend, is exactly what we’re diving into today. How prioritizing purpose over perfection can completely transform the way you approach productivity and save you from the guilt spiral of abandoned planners, digital task apps you never open again, and all those damn to-do lists that multiply like rabbits in your brain.
Quite honestly, those picture-perfect planners, they weren’t made for your brain. They were made for an imaginary productivity unicorn who never gets distracted by a random side quest about the mating habits of octopuses at 2 am (don’t ask. But also do ask because octopuses are absolutely fascinating creatures).
These one-size-fits-all systems promise a magical solution. Just follow these steps, color code this way, and suddenly your life will be a beautiful Pinterest board. Spoilers, sweetie. They lie. I’ve tried more of those systems than I can count. I would get all excited, set them up just right, maybe buy a few too many highlighters and washi tape rolls, and then my brain would rebel like a gremlin that was fed after midnight. Suddenly all that structure that was supposed to help me felt like it was a suffocating chore.
It’s not that I didn’t want to be productive. I just wanted to be productive. My way. A way that made sense for me. My energy levels, my values, and my reality. Chaotic kids, full-time job, business, the occasional existential crisis included.
So today we’re going to break this down step by step. If you’ve ever felt like a productivity failure, like you just can’t figure out how to do it right, buckle up. We’re tossing out the rulebook and writing a new one based on your values, not someone else’s checklist.
Our first step is to understand the disconnect. Let’s start with the real reason these systems don’t work. It’s not because you’re lazy. It’s not because you’re broken. It’s because they weren’t designed with you in mind. Most traditional productivity tools are built around structure, rigidity, and a very narrow definition of success. Like check every box where you failed and when you’re neurodivergent, creative, easily distracted, or let’s be honest, a human being with more going on than just what’s in the damn planner, that structure doesn’t feel helpful. It feels like trying to force a square peg into a round hole with glitter and expectations.
We buy these systems, spend hours setting them up, and within days we’re overwhelmed and more behind than we started. Now our life is spread between five notebooks, three digital tools, and the back of a receipt we wrote something important on and definitely lost. Sound familiar? It’s not your fault, it’s the system’s fault. Because those systems weren’t designed with your specific needs, values, or beautiful, weird brain in mind.
So instead of plugging into someone else’s template, what if we started with you? When we start with you, our second step is identifying your core values and building around them. So let’s talk values. What actually matters to you? Not what your boss says should matter, not what TikTok productivity coaches scream at you at 6 am while doing jumping jacks. I mean, what you value. Is it trust? Honesty? Creativity? Rest? Compassion?
When your productivity aligns with your values, it stops feeling like a grind and starts feeling like growth. You’re not forcing yourself to check boxes, you’re building something meaningful. Take a minute to think about some real-life situations. How do you react when things go well? What about when everything goes to shit? What threads run through your responses? Those are your core values showing up. Now imagine building your productivity system around those. If you value honesty, maybe that means keeping realistic to-do lists, ones that reflect what you can do, not what a robot would do. If you value family time, maybe it means blocking out non-negotiable time for the people you love, even if that means other things have to shift. You’re allowed to prioritize your real life. And when it comes to the to-dos, look at them through your values lens. Which ones feel aligned, which ones make your stomach knot up? You don’t have to keep all of them. You’re allowed to chuck the ones that don’t serve you. You’re allowed to burn the to-do list metaphorically or literally if it’s safe and won’t set off your smoke alarms.
For step three, embrace imperfection and practice self-compassion. Let’s talk about that pesky little goblin called perfectionism. We talk about him a lot. You don’t need your productivity to look pretty. You don’t need it to impress anyone. It just needs to work for you. Maybe you’ve failed at a hundred different planners and systems before. Cool. That just means you have research data. You know what doesn’t work, and that’s just as valuable. You’re not a failure for needing to try different things. You’re human. And being a human means screwing up, learning stuff, trying again, and occasionally crying in your car with a vanilla cold brew in hand. Right?
So when you’re testing new productivity practices, building grace, take breaks, journal. Go for a walk, pull a tarot card and see what your subconscious is screaming at you. Let your brain breathe. You don’t need a 5 am routine with 17 steps. You need space to find what makes sense for your life.
Step four is celebrate the progress. This is your final step. And honestly, the most fun. Celebrate the hell out of your small wins. I don’t care if the only thing you did today was send that one email you’ve been avoiding. That’s a win. That’s dopamine. That’s one less thing weighing on your brain. The more we celebrate our progress, the more we reinforce that we’re not just surviving, we’re doing the damn thing. And the goal here, again, isn’t perfection. It’s purpose. It’s joy. It’s integrating the things that matter into how we spend our time. So maybe you focus more on your hobbies this week. Maybe you let the dishes sit an extra day so you can finish a book that lights you up. That’s not failure. That’s choosing your life. And it’s freaking worth celebrating.
So here’s your mission should you choose to accept it. Take a few minutes today, yes, just one or two, to reflect on your core values. Then pick one productivity process to experiment with this week. Something small, something purposeful, something that feels aligned. Try it out. Tweak it if you need to, toss it if it doesn’t work, but let it be your process, not someone else’s prepackaged bullshit.
And as you do this, remember that perfection is overrated, progress is magical, and your weird, wonderful way of doing things, that’s your superpower.
Thanks so much for listening today. You can find complete show notes, links to resources mentioned, as well as a link to our co-working community on our website at thatweirdnerdymom.com. Be sure to leave a rating or review and check me out on Instagram at that_weirdnerdymom. Feel free to shoot me a DM. I’d love to hear from you. Until next time, my wonderful weirdo. You’ve got this. Bring out your weird.
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