Tag: busy

Are you productive? Or are you just busy?

Don’t confuse busyness with productivity. Work on things that matter/move the needle. Don’t spend time on the trivial…eliminate that which isn’t necessary for you (or anyone) to do, automate that which can be automated (have A.I. help), and delegate that which needs to be done but not necessarily by you.

If you want to grow, you will HAVE to learn how to do these things. We all only have so much time and energy during the day. If we spend all of it doing things that don’t bring us closer to our goals, we are leaving a lot on the table.

Being busy is not necessarily the same as being productive. How can you minimize the busy work and focus on doing the most meaningful and/or dollar-productive work?

Never mistake busyness for productivity.

Yesterday, I wrote about how taking action cures anxiety. Doing something – anything – can take your mind off of what MIGHT happen. And, honestly, it can feel pretty good.

But have you ever sat down after a long, busy day at work and realize that you didn’t accomplish anything you set out to for the day? Or, even worse, do you not even know what tasks are really the important ones you need to complete?

Never mistake motion for action. Never mistake busyness for productivity.

Being busy can feel good, but it’s often an illusion. Focus on checking less things off of your To Do list and instead, check things off your priority list. Ask yourself, “if I could only get one thing done today, what would I choose to do in order to feel the most accomplished (or least stressed)?”

When you wake up each morning (or before you go to bed at night), plan your day out. Set out to do the most important tasks first, especially if they’re difficult. As Brian Tracy says, “Eat that frog.” If you must eat the frog anyways, you might as well get it out of the way and not let the thought of eating the frog chip away at you all day.

Do your most important tasks first, and if you have two equally important tasks, choose to finish the most difficult one first.

Being busy is not a sign of achievement

The busier I am, the more I have failed. If I’m to busy or overworked, that means I don’t have systems or processes in place to ease the workload. Or I haven’t hired enough people (or the right people). Or, if I have the people on my team, I haven’t delegated enough.

Instead of doing everything yourself, ask who, not how. Figure out who can do this for me. If you want to become the best, you need to scale, or else you’ll reach your limitations so quickly that you’ll never become the best. Figure out who the best person is to hire for the job. Figure out how can I outsource this, not how can I do this.

Getting things done

If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. The more things you do, the more you can do.” – Lucille Ball

Have you ever noticed that when you’re really busy, you don’t feel tired until after you sit down for a break?

Or have you ever noticed that when you have two months to complete a project, you finish (and usually start) the project in two months? But if that same project was due in two weeks or even in two days you would still get it done?

Just like Newton’s first law of physics says, “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion…”

Those who are constantly doing things and making things happen (setting goals and regularly achieving them by taking consistent action) will likely continue to do so. But those who “have all the time in the world” and are not currently in motion will likely not get the task done in the timeframe you want.

This is why it’s so important to stay in motion. Just get started. We should seek progress, not perfection. Perfection is a myth we tell ourselves we are striving for, but in reality it is masking our tendencies of procrastination. Done is better than perfect. Strive for starting, making progress, and finishing a task. Don’t get distracted with the next shiny object. Start something, finish it, then move on to the next one.

Just do it

If you wait to start until you feel like you’re “ready,” you’ll never get started.

You’ll never be 100% ready for what happens next because we can’t predict the future. All you can do is put yourself in the best position to succeed by reading about a subject and asking others who have already accomplished what you want to do. From there, take action. Even if you’re taking baby steps, that’s better than procrastinating and always being in learning mode.

We often confuse learning with productivity. Learning is amazing, but if you don’t do anything with what you’ve learned, it should actually be re-categorized as entertainment. DOING something meaningful is productive. Make sure that you don’t confuse step one (learning) and step two (taking action to stay busy) with productivity.