One day I realized why: I was optimizing for completion, not alignment.

I would crush my task list on Monday, but if half those tasks didn't actually reflect what I cared about, what was the point? Deep down, I knew the difference between being busy and being productive.

That's when something shifted.

I started writing down what actually mattered to me. Not just surface-level goals but my core values. The things that are hard and tiring and paradoxically give me more fuel and energy. Purpose. People I love. Growth. Creativity.

Then I made a simple choice: I would only commit to tasks that fed one of those values.

The results weren't dramatic at first. But they were real.

A week later, I noticed I had called people I care about more. Two weeks in, I had started a project I had abandoned months ago. A month later, I realized I had more energy, more clarity, and less guilt.

What changed? I wasn't doing more. I was doing what mattered.

The catch: values aren't set-it-and-forget-it. They need consistency. They need you to show up. And when you neglect them, you feel it—genuinely feel it.

That tension? That's not punishment. That's an alarm bell.

That's the signal that says: "This is who you want to be, and right now, you're not working towards that."

And now, productivity doesn't feel like willpower anymore. It feels like honesty.

It feels like becoming who you actually want to be.

I built Listval around this idea because I believe productivity should be personal, not performative. Not about numbers but about who you want to be.

Thanks,

Mourtaza