What is Productive?

I'm at a loss. I would categorize my last two days as productive in that I haven't wasted a lot of time, I've focused on projects and got some work done.

And yet, I feel like I'm standing still. 

Let me give you an example. I received an e-mail from a friend about a non-profit in GSO that needs a writer. I sent the contact an e-mail, outlining my qualifications. I received an e-mail back today, stating she was considering a number of candidates and asked me to send in my resume, a sample of my writing, and a "before" and "after" of a piece I'd edited. I spent the next hour to hour and a half updating my resume, digging out before and after pieces, and putting together a cover letter and package for this woman.  

So, yes, something was accomplished. I got a package ready to send out. But in the greater scheme of things, I feel like nothing got done. I'm no further on projects that have deadlines, I have no way of knowing if taking this two hours will even pay off and I'll get the job, and I've still got a mile long list of things to do.

Another example. A funny cat story popped to mind today so I sat down for 45 minutes and wrote it out. I haven't  written a cat story in a while and it was fun and maybe someday I'll use it for publication or in a new book. Writing is never a waste of time and by writing it I accomplished something, but again, nothing that is on my list.  I don't want to say "Oh, I can't write anything not on the list" and quelch the creative spirit but ---yaaaaa!!!! I have so much to do!

I'm doing a really good job of sticking to the writing schedule I set out for myself and things still aren't snapping together as quickly as I would like.  I'm a pretty good time estimator too, so I'm not sure what the problem is. I suspect it's that I'm allowing myself to be pulled in too many directions with no focus on where I want my writing to take me.  But that's a blog for another day.