Last week I was in England with my mum and we had a lot of fun re-reading Aesops Fables (we used to read them when I was a kid).

Aesop was a legendary Greek fabulist (meaning a writer of fables). He was a slave who lived in the 6th century BC and eventually was freed by his master. It was said that he earned his freedom through his storytelling and went on to serve as advisor to a king. Not too bad a transformation, eh?

You probably know some of his fables already, perhaps.

The story of the hare and the tortoise; slow and steady wins the race.

The warning about the boy who cried wolf; a liar will not be believed even when he tells the truth.

The fox and his sour grapes; it’s easy to despise what you cannot get.

One of my favorite fables is about The Miser and his Gold, written here:

Once upon a time there was a Miser who used to hide his gold at the foot of a small tree in his garden; but every week he used to go and dig it up and gloat over his gains. A robber, who had noticed this, went and dug up the gold and stole it. When the Miser next came to gloat over his treasures, he found nothing but the empty hole. He tore his hair, and raised such an outcry that all the neighbours came around him, and he told them how he used to come and visit his gold.

“Did you ever take any of it out?” asked one of them.

“Nay,” said he, “I only came to look at it.”

“Then come again and look at the hole,” said a neighbour; “it will do you just as much good.”

Moral of the story: Wealth unused might as well not exist.

I told my mum this was my favorite fable of all. Because it’s my reason for working (even living). Because inside of each and every one of us is gold. And it’s our obligation in this lifetime to use it. And I want want to make my life’s work is about helping more people use their gold. And make it an active, beautiful, sparkling reality in their lives.

How do you do this? It comes down to two core things.

Confidence and making it happen – which is largely driven by our productivity.

The good news is, confidence can be learned. I’ve written all about it.

The second – being intentional and productive – is also up to us.

But it can a little complicated, I know. Because life gets in the way. Work. Kids. To-do-lists. Never ending email flow. Social media distractions. Hundred of things pulling us in different directions. Some days it FEELS like Im getting a lot done but my best work is being sabotaged by external noise.

Do distractions come at you from ALL SIDES, too?

I don’t know about you, but it also seems to me that the more I get done – the more there is to do! It’s endless. And sometimes I even think my proficiency works against me. Like the more I do well, the more I’m relied upon to do more.

So I make it my mission to block out the urgent (other peoples needs) to focus on the important (my gold).

Getting the important stuff done matters. Otherwise, our lives are frittered away on meetings, happy hours, TV re-runs, and Instagram. You need to schedule time to achieve your goals. It’s a non-negotiable, ongoing appointment you keep with yourself.

Because nothing beats action, my friend. A book won’t write itself. My body won’t magically manifest itself in a yoga studio. Your dating life won’t double overnight as you sit on the sofa, eating Doritos. You gotta get busy! Your gold is waitin’ for ya.

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Productivity expert Michael Hyatt has just released this awesome quiz to help you determine how productive you really are — and how you can grow!

It only takes a few minutes, and once you have your score, you’ll know exactly how productive you are… and how productive you could be.

Click here for the assessment, before it goes away.

I scored 74 – turns out I am a Multitasking Maven. What did you score? Please share with me in the comments below!