“I’m busy.” That is probably the most abused response when you ask someone how they are. You may also be faced with that kind of situation -almost every day! But make no mistake: Going to work every day does not make one an effective worker. Yes, being busy doesn’t always equate with being successful. At times, it may be the other way around. Some may be confused about the issue because they focus on the number of hours they work. Well, we all have 24 hours a day but just to think of it: why do others have more successful life? Why do others are more accomplished, more fulfilled? It is because being busy is a state of existential reassurance. When you’re busy, there is no room for emptiness.
Time is not a factor. In fact, daily activities like going to work, sending emails, attending meetings – these are the usual things that make one busy but not necessarily leading to accomplishing anything. So what constitutes to success, you may ask. We ask different successful people and here are the 3 things that matter most to success:
- Quality
- Progress
- Goal Accomplishment
If you want to hit the 3 essentials of success, you must first learn to avoid being busy and be productive instead:
Sure Ways to be Productive, Not Just Busy
- Avoid interruptions.
What can help
Manage your time and space. Limit technology interruptions. Organize your workspace to minimize visual distractions. Learn self-management skills to help you increase your focus and reduce stress. Create a strategy and have a goal to stick to it.
- Avoid doing the easy menial things first. Start doing the most urgent.
What can help
The first hours of work should be allotted to the most urgent projects. Spending a few minutes each day checking personal e-mail, handling an online bank transfer or texting is not a problem as long as you know your limitations. Doing trivial things first without control may rob your time that should have been used in more important things. It may also sap the energy out of you leaving nothing left for the more important things. Remember priority and productivity are partners to success..
- Avoid working without goals or purpose.
What can help
Take time at the end of the day to reflect what happened the whole day, what was accomplished, what was not, what should be done and what other things should be done to make things more productive. Focus on the best things to do for the day to come. Write your priorities for the next day and review your list when you come in.
- Avoid multitasking.
What can help
Do one thing at a time and do it well. Get it started and get it done effectively. Focus on your work and be engaged with people working around you. Always check your to-do list and don’t let your focus float to other tasks before the current one is not over yet.
- Avoid decision-making paralysis. This can be experienced when you are always making decisions left and right that you feel tired all day. , making any decision makes you tired, instead get good habits, do the right things habitually, do them with unconscious effort, and save your mental energy for the things that matter.
What can help
Making decisions is made more accurate when it is based on information. To nurture your informed decision-making skills, learn to collect the right data. Mapline, a mapping software. is often used by companies to provide them with data visualization. A map visualization usually helps entrepreneurs and business leaders to identify factors affecting operations, marketing and sales. More advanced analytical features are used to uncover powerful relationships between data sets.
The next time that you’re busy doing your usual routine, sit back and really think: Are you busy just for the sake of having activities to do, or you are busy because it meant you are productive? Productivity is indeed the key to success so aim to be more productive.
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Author’s Bio:
Marga Dela Cruz is a thought leader and a consultant in data analysis and data visualization. She works in Mapline, a business mapping software that helps organizations simplify data and use it to optimize logistics, enhance market planning, identify growth opportunities, or mitigate market risks.
Josh OKELLO 