The Week I Stopped Chasing The Perfect Productivity System
Diaries of a Spiritually Ambitious Entrepreneur | Weekly Update Sep 27th
Welcome to Diaries of a Spiritually Ambitious Entrepreneur: Weekly reflections on building a 7-figure business from wholeness, not hustle—finding joy in the journey instead of holding my breath for the destination.
Hello from Jersey (not THAT one)
I’m writing today’s post from a little desk that folds down from the wall in my friend’s living room in Jersey in the Channel Islands.
To be clear, it is not New Jersey in the United States.It’s Jersey, the self governing British Isle near the coast of Northern France.
On Monday—less than a week ago—I landed here after three weeks in Montenegro, and I was a full-blown sleep-deprived zombie. After just 3 hours of sleep the night before, my brain was not braining.
And even though I was in rough shape when I got here… this island worked its magic on me.
Truthfully, I wasn’t expecting Jersey to be anything special (sorry, Ping!). I came to see my friend for ten days before I head to Cape Town for two months. No big plans or expectations. But Jersey is a hidden gem.
I’m living my best life here. With morning walks to the beach. Coffee at a café by the water. Hot yoga. Quick lunch-break catch-ups with my friend. Sunsets, cliff walks, and—obviously—my beloved meal deals from Tesco (IYKYK).
It’s scenic, convenient, simple. I feel content. Balanced. Almost like this place pressed a “restore” button I didn’t know I needed.
And with that reset came something I’ve been chasing for months: clarity and enoughness.
The myth I keep falling for
Since early 2024, I’ve been obsessing over the equation of business: what are the inputs that reliably create the outputs? If I do X each week, will it generally lead to Y revenue? And how do I stack those inputs so I finally feel on top of things?
I’ve tried so many different systems and ideas to figure it out. And yet the magic formula has felt so elusive.
My most infamous attempt to figure it out? The post-it note system.
I built a whole wall calendar with color codes: pink for fun, blue for content creation, orange for client calls. It looked impressive. I made an instagram story of myself creating it, and everyone who saw it loved it.
My clients commented on it for weeks afterwards. This one IG story was SO memorable to people.
And yet… I never actually followed it. Not once.
It was too complicated, too over-engineered, and somehow always depended on being some unrealistic version of “future me” who had infinite time and resources (and who definitely doesn’t have ADHD).
That’s the problem with productivity culture: you’re always a little behind and one system away from catching up.
Except catching up is a myth and productivity is a scam.
Until we accept this… we will forever struggle to feel “on top of things”
This is something Oliver Burkeman write about in the book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals.
He describes himself as a recovering productivity junkie, and in his quest to try and do it all, this is what he found.
“The problem with trying to make time for everything that feels important is that you definitely never will. The reason isn’t that you haven’t yet discovered the right time management tricks or supplied sufficient effort, or that you need to start getting up earlier, or that you’re generally useless. It’s that the underlying assumption is unwarranted: there’s no reason to believe you’ll ever feel ‘on top of things,’ or make time for everything that matters, simply by getting more done.”
He says that we have to embrace the fact that we are limited human beings who have finite resources to work with. We must embrace our finitude.
The more you confront the facts of finitude and work with them, rather than against them—the more productive, meaningful, and joyful life becomes”
Embrace the discomfort of knowing you’ll never get it all done—it’s the price of living a full life
I read this book initially 2 years ago, and I am still grappling with this idea of accepting my limitations. Because I don’t want to be limited. I want to be one of those rare unicorns who can do it all (anyone else feel this??)
Embracing my finitude means I won’t visit all the places I dream about. It means I wont try all the hobbies I’m interested in. I won’t read all the books on my list.
I won’t live every version of myself I romanticize about:
Early-morning Yogi Chelsea who wakes up at sunrise to do her Ashtanga practice and has a bunch of tattoos of chakras.
Fluent in Spanish Chelsea who also dances bachata professionally (these seem like a combo)
Off-grid Chelsea who thru-hikes for weeks at a time and knows how to build a fire from sticks (or something edgy like that)
Writer Chelsea who holes up in a cabin in the Artic circle, tapping away at the keyboard bundled up in blankets and wool socks
They’re all gorgeous fantasies. Maybe some of them are possible together.
Who knows maybe I can live out different versions of these realities throughout my lifetime. But I definitely can’t keep trying to do it all at the same time.
Until I accept that, I’ll never feel like I’ve “done enough.”
I’ll keep trying to squeeze more life into the same 24 hours and calling it “optimization.”
What feels different this week
For years now I’ve been trying to figure out the “perfect” content and productivity system, and this week it feels like something has shifted.
On some level, I’ve let go of the need to know I’m doing it right. Instead, I’m just building a system that feels sustainable.
In the past, I was always wondering: will this actually work?
My brain was fixated on cracking the code of the perfect system.
But here’s the flaw: what made my systems “perfect” in theory was the idea that they could guarantee results—results I had no real way of tracking.
So basically, I was setting myself up for a nightmare of never enough.
What shifted this week is that I let go of that layer of control. I know it might sound simple, but for me it feels like a quiet revolution.
I’m creating a content system I’m excited about. An offer suite that makes sense to me. A work flow that is doable. And I’m letting that be enough.
I’m choosing priorities and deciding they’re enough—before the results show up to validate them. Maybe that’s why this time feels different.
For Q4, my focus is ridiculously simple:
Long-form content on Substack to build thought leadership
Consistent brand-building posts on LinkedIn
That’s it.
To support this, I’m running two series as I establish authority in my new brand and niche:
The Inner CEO — developing the mindset of a 6-figure entrepreneur
Six-Figure Offers Simplified — teaching how to build and sell one transformational process that becomes the foundation of your business
Strategy + mindset. One episode of each, every week.
I picked something that excites me and I’m going all in. I’m not asking, “Is this enough?” I’m declaring, “This is enough.”
The actual, doable workflow
Here’s the behind-the-scenes rhythm I’ve landed on
Fridays → outline + record two podcast episodes for next week (Creation)
Mondays → edit, schedule, and repurpose those episodes (Packaging)
Tuesdays → content analytics + tweak low-ticket offers and funnels (Strategy)
Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday → client calls + catch-ups
Every day → “Content Hour” first thing: publish my posts on all the platforms for the day.
It feels simple. Achievable. And, most importantly, I’ve already stuck to it for a day. Yesterday, I successfully outlined and recorded the two podcasts episode for next week.
Now I know it’s only one day, but that’s already more successful than the post-it era, which lived entirely in theory.
The deeper permission
Here’s the real difference:
I’m not pretending I can do it all anymore.
I’m not letting anything outside of my dictate if it’s enough.
I’m not trying to outrun finitude with a prettier calendar.
I’m making choices. Letting some things go so the right things can get done.
The goal isn’t to finally “catch up.” The goal is to live and build from wholeness—already enough—and let the results compound.
Inputs still matter. But the energy behind them matters more.
So maybe this is another false start… but maybe I’ve finally embraced my finitude and found a system that works for me! Time will tell.
This week I’m loving
📚 Essentialism (Greg McKeown) — the disciplined pursuit of less, but better. I wish I’d read it years ago; it’s the antidote to my post-it era.
🎙️ I Have ADHD Podcast — found it on Monday’s flight and felt so seen. I’m still learning to honor how my ADHD brain works and this podcast felt like a hug for my inner child.
This Week’s Truth
As it turns out, I don’t actually need the perfect productivity plan. I need to accept my finitude, choose what matters, and decide it’s enough.
And this week, enough for me looks like Substack, LinkedIn, and enjoying my time visiting my friend in Jersey—proving to myself that the journey can be just as satisfying as the destination.