There’s a phrase I’ve always liked—weigh anchor. On the surface, it sounds like adding weight, burden, heft. But it actually means the opposite. It means lifting the anchor so the ship can move. It means letting go. and the same must be said for productivity anchors.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about productivity anchors. You see, anchors don’t just in the nautical sense, but in the way they show up in life and work. Anchors can be steadying. They can hold you in place when the waters around you are turbulent. But they can also keep you stuck when it’s time to move on. The same object that offers stability can also stall progress.
For a while, The Productivity Diet was an anchor in the best sense. It gave me structure, discipline, and a creative container to pour my ideas into. It held me accountable. It steadied me through the unpredictable waves of writing and rewriting, refining and rethinking.
Recognizing When It’s Time to Weigh Anchor
But eventually, that productivity anchor got heavy. Too heavy.
The project stopped being about sharing something helpful and started being about finishing something that had become overdue. It loomed. It lingered. It blocked the way forward for other ideas I wanted to pursue. And every time I sat down to work on something new, that unfinished weight tugged at my focus.
When I finally got the eBook version out into the world—even in its most basic form—I didn’t feel the rush of relief I expected.
I felt lifted.
Suddenly, new ideas rushed in. Creative breakthroughs that had been stalled for months started flowing. It was as if the anchor had been raised and the current could carry me again. Letting go of the perfect version of the project made space for imperfect, living ideas to emerge.
The Evolution of Productivity Anchors
I used to think productivity was all about anchoring yourself. Setting themes. Creating systems. Establishing routines. And to a degree, that’s true. But those anchors only help if you know when to lift them.
Anchors are temporary by nature. They’re meant to hold you for a while, not forever. Productivity anchors are no different.
There’s real value in choosing the right anchor at the right time—maybe it’s a theme, a habit, or even a framework like TimeCrafting as explained further in my aforementioned book, The Productivity Diet. But there’s just as much value in recognizing when that anchor no longer serves you.
Sometimes we think we’re being held in place for safety… when we’re actually just stuck.
Letting go doesn’t mean abandoning discipline. It means trusting that structure can evolve. That momentum can return. That creativity sometimes needs a little drift to discover where it really wants to go.
So if something you once held onto is starting to feel like it’s holding you back, ask yourself:
Is it time to weigh anchor?