Are you busy? Of course you are! Everyone has a to-do list a mile long, and we’re all working hard to get things done. We are all busy, but sometimes we think being busy is the same as being productive.
It’s not.
John Wooden said, “Never confuse activity with accomplishment.”
Are you doing the right things at the right times?
There are many, many things we could be doing with our time, yet a lot of us get caught up with being busy, but not really accomplishing much.
Have you ever opened up your laptop to work on something important, only to find yourself checking social media, going through emails, watching videos, catching up on the news, etc? You say to yourself, “I’ll just click this one thing”…then that leads to another click, and then another…
Of course you have! We’re all guilty at some point.
It’s important to watch the news, go through emails, and check social media. However, if you don’t do “first things first”, before you know it, an hour….two hours have passed and you are no further along with your project than when you first turned on the computer.
Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you’re accomplishing what you need to accomplish. You must do the right things.
A person who isn’t doing the right things is like a dog chasing its tail – you’re going NO WHERE fast!
Ask yourself at various times throughout the day, “What is the most productive thing I could be doing right now?” And then focus on doing that.
Remember, you are in charge of you. You make decisions on how you will spend each moment of your day. If you don’t like your results, you get to change your actions so that you can bring about something different.
Here are three tips that have helped me to not just be busy, but to be productive:
1. Do one productive thing and get some momentum to get the ball rolling in a positive direction. When you find yourself getting sucked into something nonproductive, stop and do one productive thing, maybe something easy, but something that will get your mind refocused on what’s important.
2. Remind yourself of how good it will feel when you have accomplished the task. Can you recall a time when you got something important done? Maybe something that you had put off, or something that just wasn’t very fun, but necessary? Remember how you felt when you did it, and tell yourself, “I did it before, I’m going to do it again.”
3. Schedule your day, especially the first 90 minutes. Write out a schedule for when you will wake up, and what you will do for the first hour and a half. Make a schedule for your entire day when you can. Of course there will be unexpected things that come up that will need your attention, so you have to be flexible. There may be meetings you have to go to, and time that you are not completely in charge of.
I have found the early mornings to be a great time to get things done. There are no interruptions, and seldom anything unexpected when I wake up at 4:00am and spend the first 90-120 minutes doing what I have predetermined is important.
Decide how you are going to spend your day. You are more than capable of shifting your focus, and getting on top of all that you have to do.
Don’t just be busy today….choose to be productive!
“The hardest thing about being productive is not the work,but the split second it takes to decide to take control.”
-David Allen*****”Unsuccessful people are busy being busy.
Successful people are busy being productive.”
-Kevin Abdulrahman*****”The way to get started is to stop talking and start doing.”
-Walt Disney