Be Productive, Not Just Busy

One of the things that one of my mentors would always say is that "it is not how busy you are that will be rewarded, but the results you have." Someone can be as busy as the bee, yet will end up achieving almost nothing. This is why you have to focus more on the results, and not just about appearing to be busy. In this era, a lot of people carry busyness as a badge of honour, without necessarily being interested in the results obtained. Just to let you know, busy schedules, endless tasks, constant movement, etc, are not the same as success. You need to understand that there is a difference between being productive and being just busy. When you understand this, your mindset towards tasks will change. You will focus more on the results you want to obtain and not how hard the task is.

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Someone may be very busy throughout that day with plenty of activities; meetings, calls, messages, errands, multitasking, being fully occupied with a lot of things at the same time. But in all these, what gives justification to all the tasks you have been doing is your productivity. Have you ever experienced a scenario where you were busy throughout that day, but at the end of the day, you did not have a sense of accomplishment? Being busy, most times, focuses on activities but not necessarily on impact. Moving is not the same thing as making progress. Imagine someone just moving in circles round a roundabout. It is true that they are moving, but at the and, no progress is made. A lot of people focus so much on being busy because it delivers a false belief of being safe.

It is worthy to note that productivity focuses on efficiency. It does not focus on how much you have done, but how much value you have created with what you have done. Someone who is productive focuses more on tasks that align with a predefined goal, and have meaningful results. Each time you have a task to perform, always ask yourself if there is a better way to do it to produce a better result. Also ask yourself if the task will move you forward or keep you at the same spot. You have to understand that it is actually possible to be very productive even with very few tasks, less stress, less work done, and being more focused.

The difference between just being busy and being productive lies in intention. Busy people are majorly reactive, while productive people are proactive. That is, they do not just wait for something to happen, the plan for it and make it happen. In addition to being intentional, you have to learn to prioritise your activities. The truth is that you cannot do everything that needs to be done all at once. You have to make deliberate choices of what to do, how to do it, and of course, when to do it. By saying an intentional and conscious "no" to some tasks, you will also be saying a "yes" to other tasks. So know where to channel your energy.

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In order to be more productive, you have to stay focused. It is not about multitasking, but about maintaining focus. In fact, trying to switch between different tasks may even make your efficiency to drop drastically, and may open you up to mistakes. Productivity often requires deep focus, even if it means that you just face a task one after the other. You will be surprised that just a single focused hour can produce better result than a full day of lots of distracted activities. Imagine trying to learn a skill, read a book, write mail, respond to official messages, etc, all at the same time. It is true that you may see yourself feeling engaged, but at the end of the day, you may discover that you did not achieve any result.

By being busy, you are just feeding urgency. But by being productive, you are led by purpose. You have to know that not everything that is urgent or needs urgent attention is actually that important. On the other hand, not everything that is important may be urgent. You have to learn to differentiate between urgency and importance. Learn to invest your time in strategic planning, learning, and improving the system. When the system is improved and efficient, you will discover that your busyness will reduce while productivity will increase.

Thanks for reading