Are You Busy or Productive? You Should be Productive, This is How

Try these 4 questions to know if you are busy or productive.

1.???Do you feel tired at the end of the day but have no feeling of accomplishment?

2.???Do you prioritize accomplishing at least one thing each morning?

3.???Do you always think about ways to do your work more efficiently?

4.???Do social media notifications easily distract you irrespective of what you are doing?

If you answered yes to question 1 or 4 then there is a high possibility that you are busy and not productive in that area of your life which relates to your choice.?

“Don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy.” Robin Sharma

Do you ever feel like it's been a long day, you are tired but doesn't seem like you have accomplished anything? You have worked hard the whole day but don’t feel you made any progress?

I remember my high school days when we had to prepare for public exams and had so many textbooks to read. Some students wanted to brag about the number of pages they had completed in textbooks, others read their notebooks, and others focused on past questions and how to answer them.

Those who read textbooks cover to cover were working hardest, but as far as the public exam was concerned they were working hard but not productively. Same goes for those who read just their notebooks. The ones that looked at past questions, how to solve them, and familiarize themselves with the exam structure were more goal-oriented and defined a frame of focus, doing what matters for the right purpose.

This applies to many situations today, at the workplace, we have people who are constantly busy, never seem to have free time, yet are never seen to accomplish anything. However, some work as much but accomplish a lot and delight in their job. Have you ever found yourself in that situation? Well, it is very easy to get caught up in that web of “busyness”.

Sometimes, "busyness" is psychological, we feel good being busy and the illusion of always doing something breeds a feeling that something is being accomplished but it is not always the case. It is common to see people just feeling good saying they are very busy and don’t have time to waste but after a closer look, you notice they don’t have results to show for their “busyness”.?

You are probably thinking this has to do with time management, it goes beyond effective time management. We will look at certain things that can be done before the day begins, during work and after work that can significantly boost your productivity. Studies have shown these methods work and many successful people recognize and give credits to these as contributors to their success.

Take action and experiment for just a week, you will be amazed at the difference it can make to your overall productivity and well-being. You can later decide to make it automatic through habit formation.

A) Before the day begins

1.????Define your direction and plan

A truly productive person takes every action towards the accomplishment of much larger goals. Each day of your life should help you move a step further towards accomplishing your goals. This gives you the framework that determines your daily tasks.

2.????Win the day before it begins

If you are not controlling your day then someone or something else is. A friend explained a situation where he got up from bed early intending to check the time on his phone, but noticed a message from social media that came in at night. He read the message and before he knew it, it was midday one thing led to another and half of the day was gone just chatting and scrolling on social media.

The day was full of rushes and influenced by the information he saw on his social media feed.

This shows how important it is to have a morning routine and to plan your day even just for 5 mins before anything else.

“If you don’t plan your day, someone or something else will.” Nir Eyal

3.????Schedule and prioritize

“People who can focus get things done. People who can prioritize, get the right things done.” John Maeda

Scheduling and making to-do lists can be good, but when we get caught up with unforeseen circumstances, achieving the most important tasks on the list is equivalent to completing the do-to in terms of productivity.

Crossing all tasks on a to-do list is good but these should not just be random tasks assigned to the day. A long list of tasks doesn’t necessarily mean you are accomplishing anything. In the same way, you don't have to accept every task to swell your to-do list so you can feel good about being busy and striking many tasks off.

The saying always goes that more is less, and according to the Pareto principle, 20% of things that we do account for 80% of our accomplishments. It sounds crazy but true.

An effective to-do list should have these also.

-The top tasks that are priorities or the must do(s) of the day

-Approximate time allocation for each task.

-How each task contributes to your larger goal.

According to Parkinson’s law, a task will swell to occupy the time allocated to it. Allocating time will help you focus and fight off procrastination.

“The key is not to prioritize what is on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Stephen Covey

B) During work

4.????Stop multitasking and work in blocks

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand, the sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” Alexander Graham Bell

The term multitasking here can be confusing for some people, you can work on several projects in a week or month that’s one way to see it. When it comes to a task or an action, do one thing at a time, for example, entering data in a spreadsheet while reading emails at the same time.

You could end up with errors in the data as well as not getting essential information from an email.?Rather, a more efficient system could be the use of limits and timing.

A study on the effects of short breaks on the productivity of computer operators showed that short 3 mins breaks each hour with stretches significantly improved worker productivity and overall well-being over time compared to a control group that didn’t use these breaks. This shows how such a small change could be very powerful.

Set blocks of time to accomplish one task, take a short rest, and take on another block. Many people seem to use 55 mins work and 5mins break in a block. For example, 55 mins to concentrate on that spreadsheet and ignoring any distractions from the phone or email, then take a 5 mins rest (maybe 5 mins yoga for brain relaxation or coffee).

You can give yourself some short blocks to check emails and messages later. From my personal experience, I have tremendously improved my performance applying this.

Escape the mental illusion of being busy. Escape perfectionism and time wastage on single tasks. Sometimes these are symptoms of procrastination.

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.” Alan Cohen

5.????Always try to do it better

"Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better." Martin Luther King Jr.

One step further for a highly productive person is to always learn ways to do work more efficiently. Some years back I remember talking to a friend who controlled a wood business. He complained about doing so many calculations always making sure everything was accurate.

It took a lot of his time and even when he came back home from work, he had to go over the calculations once more to make sure everything was balanced. It was very frustrating and his job was always on the line if he made a mistake. I asked him if he used spreadsheets, he wasn't.

I designed an automated spreadsheet for him which required just about an hour to fill, the calculations were automatically generated, he could have a quick summary report as well as forward copies each day to his boss on time. Now that’s efficiency. He didn’t just do the job, but he did it in a shorter time and efficiently.

Needless to say, his salary was increased after he succeeded to replicate the same method for other systems improving workflow by about 60%.

6.????Reflect

At the end of each day, take 5mins to evaluate yourself, there is always something to improve, to make yourself better, and to improve your productivity. Note the challenges of the day and commit to improving on them the next day, try this 5 mins each end of the day for a week and evaluate the results yourself.

“The more reflective you are, the more effective you are.” Hall and Simeral

Have a mind blowing experience on your personal development journey.

Have more points? or you know someone who might need this, comment, share it might help them.