In the corporate world, intense pressure, resource crunch, or the desire to stand out can sometimes push us beyond healthy limits. In our eagerness to shine, we may lose sight of true productivity, becoming drained, exhausted, and ultimately less effective. While taking initiative is important, it’s easy to forget our core responsibilities—missing key tasks, important deadlines, and even critical priorities. But why does this happen?

Today, I want to share some personal experiences from my 10+ years in the corporate world. Throughout my career, I often juggled multiple projects simultaneously and believed I was adept at managing it all. However, as I progressed, I began to feel overwhelmed during a particular project, unable to complete or even make progress on any single task. This led to irritability and mental exhaustion, despite not accomplishing much.

I started questioning myself: What was I doing before that made me more productive? After some reflection, I realized the root cause was a lack of clarity around my key responsibilities. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to focus on versus what I was actually doing. Everything felt chaotic—there was so much to do, but no clear starting point or priority. Unable to decide what was most important, I found myself withdrawing and only tackling tasks that came with immediate clarity.

I am self-motivated, confident, and possess strong expertise in my role, driven by a genuine desire to grow, learn continuously, and upskill every day. Yet, despite this, I found myself feeling stranded and helpless, frustrated by my inability to complete tasks within deadlines.

This struggle doesn’t just impact your professional mindset, it seeps into your personal life, leaving you feeling unproductive and drained there as well. I’m not saying you need to be productive all the time, but when you have clarity, everything falls into place. That’s exactly what happened to me.

I gained clarity about my professional role by clearly defining my key responsibilities and focusing solely on them for the first few days before gradually taking on additional tasks. It’s crucial to approach work with the right mindset, simply doing tasks isn’t enough to grow. For me, understanding what my core role entails versus what is ad hoc or secondary is essential to performing effectively and confidently.

True productivity comes from selective focus, taking on a limited number of responsibilities rather than jumping at every opportunity. Trying to do everything and be everywhere ultimately leaves you accomplishing nothing meaningful.

Be productive by working within boundaries. Give your mind the space and time it needs to generate fresh ideas, develop strategic thinking, and create thoughtful plans. Instead of overwhelming yourself with excessive work and then struggling under its weight, embrace intentional limitation as a pathway to genuine effectiveness and innovation.

I’ve shared some daily habits for productivity here, but without professional clarity, even the best habits can’t save us from burnout.”

Have you ever felt like you were working all day but achieving nothing? How do you define your ‘core’ versus ‘ad-hoc’ tasks? Let’s discuss in the comments