Productive vs. Busy

In today’s world, we increasingly define ourselves as “busy”, as if it were a badge of merit that makes us feel socially accepted and important. It almost seems as if we feel the constant need to be active and busy doing something, or worse, that we are convinced that being busy equates to being productive.

But, if this were the case, if it should be necessary to be all “busy”, why then at the end of the day do only some people have more results than others? Why do only some progress in their goals and others remain where they started?

Simply, in my opinion, because there is a difference between being busy and being productive.

First of all, working hard does not correspond to working better, or to being more productive. It would be fantastic to be able to do everything at our best, but our activity, our concentration, our motivation, and our physical strength are limited by the resources and time available.

“Busy” people moreover want to work with people who are just as busy as them; they expect you to work at least the established number of hours (preferably more) and are not always concerned with real productivity. They work hard, but often in a disorganized manner and without carrying out a priori analysis, focusing on irrelevant details.

In an attempt to be more productive, “busy” people make long (and unrealistic) to-do lists. They often start working without a very specific program that takes into account real needs and, not infrequently, they take on multiple activities at the same time. They hustle all day, toiling in vain to leave nothing behind.

Even if you give your best effort or if you are fueled by the continuous desire to improve, but you don’t work with a specific goal, you will spend time and energy still feeling dissatisfied. Every effort may not be entirely justified.

Productive people don’t confuse having a purpose with being busy.

To be productive, and perhaps work less, you need to work intelligently and goal-oriented, with a specific purpose. Coordinate all activities to achieve them in a given time.

Always one must be guided by the objective and not fall into the trap of perfectionism as an end in itself. Perfectionism does not exist, is not useful, and is the enemy of the success of our actions and decisions.

The final goal justifies the initial choices, program changes, and imperfections.

Productive people distinguish well between what is urgent and what is important. To be productive one should set a few priorities each day. Focusing on one activity at a time, avoiding working on multiple fronts at the same time.

Many activities, in fact, seem urgent (or are proposed to us as such), but are not really relevant.

Multitasking does not benefit the mind, it wastes attention and energy. Working on multiple tasks at the same time not only generates a frenzy but creates the illusion of being super productive and being able to complete all tasks together in less time. The reality is that one will work on a thousand things during the day, but you will only be able to complete a few of them.

To be productive we need to be effective, saving time and attention for important activities. This means drastically reducing distractions and the number of issues that involve us, immediately getting to the heart of the problem even in discussions or meetings. When a non-priority request looms, you need to find a polite way to postpone it or simply say no! In short, we must save time for ourselves and others.

Productive people tend to be concise and not ramble; they want others to be as productive as them and always encourage them to work methodically and effectively.

You don’t need to be super busy, but rather always make sure that your work brings real value. Use own energy and the resources one has to complete activities that are relevant to the final goal and promote those that can guarantee a greater return on the time invested.

There is nothing so useless as doing, perhaps even efficiently, what should not be done at all.

Working intelligently and systematically means not acting randomly, or hastily, but following a method and going in order. When the task is not well defined, should be clarified before acting. This will allow us to complete tasks more easily, make fewer errors, and avoid delays due to incomplete understanding of the assignment. But also taking the right breaks and adequate rest to recover all your energy. In other words, investing own energy only to create value. Therefore aiming to be increasingly master of one’s time and aware of one’s choices.

At the end of the day, the productive person will be able to talk about the results achieved and not how overworked they were!!!