It can be hard to be productive with all the productivity tools flying around us. Everyone has a seven-step process for prioritization or an intriguing taxonomy of tasks or a S.M.A.R.T. way of doing things.

I appreciate these tools and benefit from many of them, but there reaches a point where addition becomes distraction. You can spend so much time prioritizing that you fail to be productive, or expend so much energy learning about efficiency that you have little left to be efficient.

As with all methods and plans, there comes a time simply to sit down and do your work.

So how can we be productive and efficient, in ethical and meaningful ways, amidst the contemporary storm of productivity techniques and efficiency hacks?

It’s not the only way, but here’s one simple approach: Aim straight and chip away.

Aim means having a clear purpose and setting a clear goal. Straight means doing what you do with integrity and nobility. Chipping away means pressing forward with small steps in the same direction.

• Aim = purpose and goal.
• Straight = integrity and nobility.
• Chip Away = incremental progress.

This little maxim won’t solve all your productivity challenges or clear all your efficiency hurdles or maximize your daily output. But perhaps it can help you stay centered in the storm.

How can you honor God, serve others, be productive, stay efficient, and make progress each day toward good and noble things? Aim straight and chip away.