Charlie Gilkey On Finding Your Yay-Sayers

“You don’t get to do everything. Limit your work to the essential best work projects and focus on getting those done. Pick three and go after them and finish them. When the year rolls over, pick three more and do it again. The more you can focus on a fewer amount of things that matter – that really, really matter to you – the better you’re going to be.” ~Charlie Gilkey

Charlie Gilkey is an energetic mix of Army officer, philosopher, and entrepreneur.

His website, ProductiveFlourishing.com, is one of the top websites on planning and productivity for professional creatives, entrepreneurs, and small business owners.

His strong suit is helping creative, small business owners deconstruct their businesses and rearrange the puzzle pieces so that their time is spent on the activities that matter most to both the business and the people running it. In short, he helps people take meaningful action on the stuff that matters.

Although I’ve read his blog and followed his work for several years, we met for the first time this summer at a three-day conference run by Stephanie and Jonathan Fields called Good Life Project Camp. Charlie led a workshop focusing on steps that leaders need to take to consistently finish and ship their best work. It’s a theme that I speak and write about and wanted to hear Charlie’s take on the topic. It was a talk that was instructive, encouraging, and validated my experiences.

Charlie encourages us to seek out the “yay-sayers” in our lives who support and believe in our work. He also reminds us that creativity thrives in structure. All of us have processes and routines in our lives. The key is finding the ones that best channel and harness our creativity.