Stop Getting Things Done. Start Making Things Happen. [TMR #072]

There’s a question I’ve been asking myself that’s completely changed how I measure productivity. It’s not “What did I get done today?” It’s “Did I make the things happen that I said would happen?”

Happy Monday.

I was refilling my coffee this morning when a question hit me: What have I actually accomplished today?

Sure, I could rattle off a list. We all can. Things always get done by the end of the week, the month, the year.

Good things. Bad things. Tasks completed. Boxes checked.

But here’s the real question: Can you make things happen?

There’s a massive difference between getting things done and making things happen.

Let me explain.

You start your day feeling good. Motivated. Ready to crush it.

By the end of the day, you’ve closed a new client deal. You finished that system you’ve been building for weeks. You knocked out a dozen tasks from your list.

Productive day, right?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Here’s the test: What did you actually set out to do that morning?

If you started the day planning to work on your marketing strategy and ended up closing a surprise deal instead, that’s great. But it’s not what you intended. It’s reactive success, not intentional success.

And there’s a difference.

The Predictability Problem

Most of us are great at being productive. We’re terrible at being predictable.

We celebrate wins that fall into our lap. We take credit for projects that just happened to get completed on time. We pat ourselves on the back for outcomes we never actually planned for.

But what if we measured our success differently?

What if we only counted the wins we explicitly set out to create?

Think about it this way: If I say “I’m going to close three clients this week” and I close three clients, that’s a different kind of win than stumbling into three deals because I happened to answer my phone at the right time.

One is making things happen. The other is just getting things done.

Predicting Your Own Future

The skill I’m working on now is being more predictable to myself.

Starting each day by declaring: I’m going to do this. I’m going to finish that project. I’m going to work out four times this week. Whatever it is.

Then actually doing those exact things.

It’s almost like predicting the future. You know what’s going to happen because you said it would. You know it’s going to get accomplished because you’ve decided it will.

That’s power.

That’s the difference between hoping things work out and knowing they will.

The Real Measure

So here’s what I’m challenging myself with this week: I’m setting my intentions every single day, then measuring my productivity against those intentions.

Not against what happened to get done. Not against the random opportunities that showed up. Against what I said would happen.

The closer you can get to making your declared outcomes match your actual outcomes, the more control you have over your business and your life.

You stop being reactive and start being predictive.

You stop getting things done and start making things happen.

That’s the skill worth developing.