Why We Should De-Glorify Busy

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published July 09, 2016

Summary: Being busy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being productive. Learn how you can be productive in this article.
 
Being busy does not mean you are being productive.
“Hey, how have you been?”
“Good, just really busy!”
“Oh me too, I’ve been so busy!”
 
We hear the word “busy” all the time to the point where if we don’t claim to be busy, then we must be lacking somewhere in our lives. Unfortunately, keeping busy doesn’t always mean you’re being productive; we often till up our time with activities and to-dos without actually making progress towards any of our goals.
 
Why does this happen? Our brains are controlled in two different ways: consciously and subconsciously. If we’re consciously setting goals and visualizing them then our brains are more likely to stay focused on the steps to get there. However, if we’re subconsciously telling ourselves we’re “so busy” then our brain is going to find ways to justify why we don’t have time for things.
United States
 
So how do we become productive rather than busy? By focusing on one key task at a time. With all of our modern technology and the need to be “busy,” we are constantly multitasking and doing several things at once, but this actually leads to being less productive in the long run. We all have the time to do anything we set our minds to – we just can’t do everything all at once.
 
So how do you become more productive and less “busy?”
 
  • Focus on quality over quantity.
  • Have one big priority at a time.
  • Focus on one task at a time.
  • Carve out one time per day to answer all of your emails.
  • Visualize your goal and then set action steps.
  • Decide what your priorities are and forget the rest.
 
If you really put forth the effort towards achieving one big goal at a time, while carving out a little bit of time each day for your little daily tasks (like phone calls, emails, etc.), you’ll be surprised at how many of those big projects you actually end up completing.
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