Becoming overly busy is a gradual process that we become caught up in, and for many reasons cannot see our way out of. Being busy is not bad, if one is productive. You need to ask yourself the question “am I just being busy or am I really being productive at accomplishing what I want or need to?”
It is so easy to become caught in the “busy cycle”. We jump on the carousel of life, work, home, play, and as we start to go around, we begin to look for the “golden ring” to pull and just as we draw close to it, our horse begins to go up and down, as we pass by the ring and it is just out of our reach. So around we go again, hoping the next time we will be close enough to grab it.
The super technology we have at our fingertips, which can help us to become more efficient, has also allowed us easy access to a world of bombardment and interruptions with social medial and constant interactions with others.
Technology is not the only thing that we allow to “suck” up our time. There are a few other things that will cause us to be busy, but not productive:
Poor planning – Flying by the seat of your pants just does not work if you want to be productive.
Overburdening yourself – We have all been given the same 24 hours in a day, be realistic at what you can produce.
Procrastination – Spending more time complaining and contemplating what needs to be done than actually just doing it.
Riding the carousel is fun at first, but after awhile of not being able to reach the golden ring we really want the ride to just stop. What can we do to get off the busy carousel and increase our productivity?
Assess the current situation – What are your hang-ups, time-sucks, and distractions?
Adjust what needs to be done – For example I needed to keep my phone in my purse while working. Set up time limits for email, blogs, or surfing the internet. Give yourself timelines and deadlines.
Act to implement a new course of action – Finding your high productive time and doing bigger or harder tasks during that time. A recent study showed that people who were early birds were more productive than night owls. Find what works for you and then set your course of action around it.
Allow yourself the freedom to revisit, adjust and implement often if needed. Things change and what works today may not tomorrow.
Change can be difficult, but it may be necessary to grab your life back and get it on a productive path. Stuart Young, the author of “How to Change Your Life One Day At a Time” has an excellent article on important questions to ask when it comes to implementing change that is a must read, just follow the link below.
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VPMI 6/20
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