DON’T BE BUSY, BE PRODUCTIVE
How many times have you used the word ‘Busy’?

“I’m busy, I’m so busy. I’ve been busy” it’s something we keep on saying as if it’s an achievement. You could spend the whole day running around, attending meetings, answering calls, responding to emails…but realize that by the end of the day you couldn’t accomplish anything of significance.

We would say being busy is something like a mindset people have, but if we take close look at it we would see that most part of it is not positive. ‘Busy’ has been used as an excuse not to be up and doing in all aspects of your life.

Now the question is who isn’t busy?
As a student you go to classes from morning to evening, get back home, rest, read, do your assignments, etc. You’re busy.

If you’re a parent and try to carve out time for your kids to help them with their assignments. Giving them listening ears when they need someone to talk to, taking them out, doing the house chores. You’re busy

If you’re trying to learn a skill about something you are passionate about. You’re busy

Busy people have great work ethics, which is why they’re always busy, they work hard but don’t work smart. As it is easier to be busy and more difficult to be more productive. Productivity requires strategic thinking, being focused, and having a positive mindset towards what you want to achieve. Have you noticed that busy people, stay late at work, do rush around to get things done and yet seem to accomplish very little. You could easily be wasting a lot of time on meaningless tasks, getting distracted by one thing or another and you see time has gone.

There’s a distinction between being busy and getting things carried out the right way as it directly impacts your fulfillment.

To be busy means you don’t have time for anything while being productive means having time for things that are priorities.

Busy people tend to accomplish their daily routine by cramming their to-do’s list. Trying to get everything done even when they know they have a lot to do and it won’t be possible to do everything at once. They end up not getting done in the right way. While productive people cut their workload in order to get things done in the right way, they focus on being effective first then efficient. They look for better ways to achieve a good result.

Here is the difference between being Effective and being Efficient
Effective; finding the maximum surest manner to do something.

AND

Efficiency; following each step of a large task and making sure it is accomplished quickly.

Busy people do multitask, this causes divided attention, this damages efficiency and encourages quantity over quality. Productive people know how to manage their time and plan ahead in order to prioritize more important tasks first.

Busy people do say “YES” to everything so as to fill their schedules with things that will keep them busy but don’t change their life. But a productive person learns how to say yes/no depending on the task being given. Productive humans choose when to say yes wisely because they know each ‘yes’ they say will be time-consuming for them. They also know that saying ‘yes’ to the wrong things will make them tread through the wrong paths. They say ‘no’ to things in order to have enough time for things that matters.

Being productive means you set boundaries. Being productive is about setting priorities, taking one task at a time, knowing what you’re good at, your weakness, and working on them.

As we’ve seen that it’s possible to be busy and not be productive, it just depends on how you’re able to make good use of your time and create a schedule that is easy to follow.

A person who is productive is also a person who is busy, but a person who is busy is not always a person who is productive.

Be Intentional and Stay Productive

As today is Monday the beginning of working day. Set your goals and make sure they are SMART.