By Younas Chaudhary

Are you moving the needle at work? Are you busy or are you productive? There is a clear difference between being busy and being productive in today’s workplace. Busyness has become an excuse for certain people to show that they are so overworked that they do not or can’t accomplish much at work or even in their day-to-day lives.

Busyness is now a workplace farce that keeps us running in circles without getting much done. We pretend busyness to get off the hook from joining a new project or adding a new task.  

In our fast-paced culture, so enamored by busy work, we allow busy people to repeat mundane tasks. Keep in mind that if you are productive, you will work smarter and get tasks done in less time.

Productive and organized people deliberately preplan and perform tasks on time with the clear intent to maximize cost savings and generate positive cashflow. They perform tasks timely, diligently, and consistently deliver results on time and believe that no productive tasks are useless or overall meaningless. On the other hand, busy people take on any assignment that comes their way to show that busyness equates to being important, more respectable and admirable by coworkers and supervisors.

At the end of the day, what matters is agile, focused work that yields tangible results and gives you a feeling of accomplishment and contentment. Daily, well planned high value work gives us a state of flow, making us realize that we have rightfully earned our pay and show us at our very best. How many of us have achieved that state of work nirvana every day?

In his famous book, “Eat that frog!” motivational speaker Brian Tracy teaches us to stop procrastinating and get more work done in less time. Over the last four decades, I have always followed a disciplined and consistent work ethic prioritizing the most important tasks and it has yielded good and positive results. While working on any task, I engage in deep, concentrated work designed to accomplish more in less time. I never get distracted by a constant flurry of emails, text messages, web browsing, wasteful phone calls, and other distractions.

I see busy people regularly functioning like scrolling websites on auto play. They need regular reminders on the same tasks, and they jump from one mundane task to another thinking they are accomplishing a big deal. However, they are simply shifting less priority tasks and wasting time. A productive person on the other hand is clear about what matters to the business. They write and list key daily tasks to do that they intend to do and devote time to plan their day. Productive people follow the Pareto Principle that teaches us that 20% of your high value tasks are what matters and the other 80% with low value can be set aside or ignored.

Here are a few tips for you to be productive and not just busy.

1. Prioritize and plan your high value tasks every day and write them down. Understand the difference between what is important and what is urgent.
2. Be bold to say no to low value tasks that have no impact on your business.
3. Engage in deep, meaningful work with consistency, passion, and purpose.
4. Stop pretending to be busy, and instead seek out and identify high value productive work.
5. Work smarter, not harder with firm deadlines.
6. Delegate work with coworkers, especially with those who are better at certain tasks.
7. Forget perfectionism, instead get the work done! Latest reports say that 85% is the magic number for productivity.
8. Stop being frantic, instead choose certain areas where you are really good, passionate about and that can add value.

    Stay blessed!

Disclaimer

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated. Further, I make no warranty regarding the accuracy or effectiveness of my recommendations, and readers are advised to consult other advisors as well as their own judgments in making business decisions.

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