it’s only by adopting an experimental outlook that you can hope to learn the secrets of feel-good productivity.

IN SUMMARY Misalignment burnouts arise when we spend time on goals that don’t match up with our sense of self. Overcoming misalignment is a lifelong task; one that requires us to continually work out what really matters to us, and change our behaviour accordingly. There are some surprisingly simple ways you can work out what matters to you today.

For this to work as an experiment, it’s important that your change is localised. If you dramatically transform every sphere of your life, you won’t know what’s driving any changes in your mood and sense of alignment.

Step three is the most crucial: execute. Make a change.

If you were to change one – just one – independent variable in your life, what would it be? And what effect do you think it would have on your situation?

identify an area of your life where your actions feel particularly unfulfilling.

Whenever I sit down to begin work, I open up that Google Doc and scan through it to remind myself what my 12-month celebration looks like. Then, under each of the areas of health, work and relationships, I choose one subcategory to focus on.

the final ingredient in alignment involves a mindset shift: from thinking about our values at the level of lifetimes and years, to thinking about our values at the level of daily choices.

We’ve got three for Health (Body, Mind and Soul); three for Work (Mission, Money, Growth) and three for Relationships (Family, Romance, Friends).