Are you working as hard as you can but getting nowhere? There are simply not enough hours in the day? Do you look at other people in your life who are putting in half as much effort as you but making a lot more progress? Today we are talking about how to focus on being less busy and more productive.
First Things First
We all want to be successful in life. That means different things to different people. And we all know that in order to be successful, we must work hard. However, what some of us seem to miss is that simply working hard, without a specific focus on productivity is not going to lead us to success.
In this case we are busy but not productive. This means we expend a lot of energy but we don’t see any real results. Sound familiar? This is really common but it is not your fault.
The World We Work In
In our world of work today, employers place value on ‘hard workers’. ‘Hard working’ employees get rewarded with promotions, raises and employee accolades. This makes sense as companies want to reward the employees that deliver the most value to the organisation. But something gets lost in translation and we as employees feel the need to create the perception we are working hard, instead of just focusing on producing good results.
Of course, the easiest way to create the perception that you are working hard is to show that you are busy. This is why people arrive early, leave late and talk about being busy all day. But do they actually get any real work done?
Remember, being busy does not automatically equal being productive. This will get you so far, however eventually creating the perception that you are working hard by looking busy will leave you exhausted, stressed and burnt out. But what is the alternative?
The Alternative
The truth is, we can achieve the same level of success, validation and monetary reward with a fraction of the effort. However only IF we redirect our hard work into being productive and not busy. Let’s take a look at how we can do it!
#1 Focus On Value Not Time
We have been brainwashed into thinking that the more time we spend at something, the more productive we are being. Instead of starting work thirty minutes early and staying an hour late, consider what value you can bring to the company with the work that you do, regardless of time. Consider your strengths, your knowledge and your expertise. Figure out how you can lean into those strengths to positively impact the organisation.
#2 Focus On High Impact Projects
All businesses have problems that if solved or reduced, will help them to increase revenue, decrease cost or mitigate risk. As employees, we all play a role in influencing one of those to varying degrees. Stop getting busy doing some random task that has no impact (which will take the same amount of time and effort). Instead, identify and focus on high impact projects (which will also require effort but will also produce real results).
#3 Ruthless Prioritisation
There will always be random and seemingly important tasks that have no impact and will drain your time. A simple example of this can be updating random spreadsheets, for the sake of it. In order to focus your time on high impact projects only, you will need to be able to be ruthless in prioritisation. The majority of low value activities need to be either dropped or delegated. This is a skill that takes time and practice but it allows you to shift from being busy to productive.
#4 Track Your Impact
Unfortunately, the mainstream corporate world is still lagging behind on this. Therefore people who are delivering no value but look busy are being rewarded. This means that in order for you to be able to demonstrate your value, even as someone who doesn’t look as busy, you will need to document your successes. Highlight your own achievements and keep a log of examples of the value you have delivered to the business.
If you aren’t sure how to define what is impactful and valuable, it is always a safe bet to tie it back to money in some way. How did the thing you did help the company to make more money. Or help them to save on costs? Keep this handy for yearly review conversations and for when promotional opportunities come up.
Why Bother?
So we’ve established that being busy and being productive require about the same amount of effort. A lot. And I admit that very often, companies reward people for being busy. This is because they perceive busy people as productive people, even though this is very often not the case. Therefore I couldn’t blame you for asking why bother focusing on being productive over busy – here’s why;
Being busy leads to nothing other than exhaustion and overwhelm. There is actually no reward for being busy. Even if you do get promoted, the novelty will wear off after the first time you get your new pay cheque. There is no fulfilment to being busy. No intrinsic satisfaction. And definitely no sense of achievement. You have barely any free time during the week. Not to mention being too tired to do anything worthwhile at the weekend.
The Benefits
Being productive on the other hand, whilst still a lot of hard work actually takes less time. Most of us, can do a full day of work (8 hours) in about 5 hours by focusing more on being productive and less on being busy. This means that we don’t arrive early, stay late and work through lunch. It give us an additional 3 hours per day to focus on things we love and care about.
It means we have more time to rest therefore we have more energy for our own lives, outside of work. And the best part of all is that by being productive, we achieve something meaningful which means we feel more satisfied and fulfilled by the work that we do. The cherry on top is that we are actually more valuable and less replaceable to our employers, so if we wish, we can continue to climb that corporate ladder of success.
Productivity > Busy
Hopefully you see that being busy and being productive both require hard work however by focusing on being productive, there is a much greater reward for that hard work. If you are interested in delving into this concept more I’d highly recommend The Four Hour Work Week. Tim Ferris takes the concept of focusing on being productive to the extreme. However, it is also possible to start small, make a few simple changes and drastically improve the quality of your life.
You might even be inspired to become even more productive with the extra free time by starting your own business. If you do go that route check out posts like: 3 Reasons To Abandon The Conventional 9-5 or Should I Quit My Job Without Another One Lined Up. Whatever you do, be sure to keep us updated in the comments!