BUSY VS. PRODUCTIVE

Busy is a state of being. It's the state of having your attention occupied. Busy isn't good or bad—it's completely context dependent. We associate busy with getting work done. We often think of people who are successful as being "busy" or people who are hard at work as being "busy." But those aren't always true associations. Busy is not a requisite for success.

So what's the difference between being busy and being productive?

• Being busy doesn't require a goal.
• Being productive requires a goal.

You could be busy scrolling through social media. You could be busy working on a paper for school. The second one sounds a bit better doesn't? Well, let's take that a step farther. You could be busy scrolling through social media watching CPAs give advice on how to structure your business to provide the best tax benefits so you can file the correct paperwork. You could be busy working on a paper for school but just staring at your computer screen. Busy just means occupied. It's a quality.

Not only does productivity require a goal, but to be productive means progressive realization of that goal. So the person writing the paper is engaging in an activity that could be productive, but things aren't inherently productive given the scope of the work; We need to look at what's getting done during the time spent on a task. This is where people misrepresent burnout. Burnout comes from operating in a chronic state of being busy in the absence of productivity.

False Productivity vs. True Productivity

So we've defined how busy and productive are different, but don't let productivity fool you. There are two types of productivity: false productivity and true productivity. These depend on their relation to a goal.

• False productivity is engaging in an activity that appears/feels productive by nature but is operating on an ill-defined goal
• True productivity comes from purposeful efforts made that move you efficiently and effectively towards a well-defined goal
  • Ill-defined goals: non-specific and unmeasurable without structured efforts or timeline
  • Well-defined goals: Specific and measurable with structured/systemized efforts and timeline
  • Purposeful efforts: Planned, justifiable actions that directly contribute to well-defined goals 

This is similar to the school work vs. social media scenario. Imagine somebody who says "I was at the gym for two hours today." They're engaging in an activity that sounds inherently productive, but what they did while at the gym is a completely different story. If their goal is to gain some amount of muscle and lose some amount of fat and all they did was sort of meander through the gym occasionally sitting down at a machine and doing a couple reps before moving on and engaging people in conversation—they have ill-defined goals and lack purposeful efforts. There is no metric, so there's no data to collect, so there is nothing to analyze. Therefore you haven't moved past square one. That's false productivity. People like to be busy feeling productive while not actually being productive. It can be unintentional but is often a deeply rooted coping mechanism stemming from lack of well defined goals or proper goals and an innate desire to be productive.

Another example would be the person who wakes up at 5 AM and loves to share that they're up early and "work" long hours each day. Just like our gym scenario, being in the office all day sounds inherently productive, but not if you spent 6 hours watching cat videos on YouTube.

Productive Procrastination

Another closely associated term I like to use is productive procrastination. This one is slightly different:

• Productive procrastination is distracting yourself from the task at hand by completing other menial tasks

Don’t allow yourself to get distracted by being productive. Take our 5 AM, early riser individual—they might have a big project at work they need to get done, but instead of working on the sub-tasks of the project, they decide to organize the files on their computer, delete old emails, clean their desk out, etc. None of these activities move them closer to the goal of getting the project done but it's justified by being productive. Another example for students: there’s an assignment you need to get done, but instead of working on the components of the assignment, you decide you’re going to do your laundry, or maybe even you start trying to get ahead on assignments for a different class. Neither of which help with the task at hand.

I’ve found that this seems to stem from a lack of understanding of how to complete the main task, or the lack of a structured system/process. Those things that I lack the ability to do illicit feelings of being unproductive. The urge to accomplish tasks leads me to doing faster, more simple tasks i.e. cleaning/organizing. While this might satisfy that internal drive and desire to achieve in the short-term, it's just pushing off the inevitable and slowing our progress over the long-term. This will leave us behind on progress and result in feelings of cognitive dissonance. It's the ultimate productivity trap.

How do we fix this?

Be brutally honest with yourself. Be vulnerable. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are my goals?
2. Are they well-defined or ill-defined?
3. Why are these my goals? (i.e. did I define my goals or did somebody/something else do that for me?)
4. What activities am I participating in that bring me closer to those goals?
5. How much of my time is actually my own? (*Hint: think screen time and hours worked, goals that are given to you by others)
6. Do I prioritize my goals?
7. Am I working when it's time to work?
8. Am I resting when it's time to rest?
9. How much money do I need to trade for the things I actually want?
10. Was I busy today or was I productive?

Why is extremely important here. Most people are missing that component. If you haven't, I highly suggest reading Start with Why by Simon Sinek. This will give you a great understanding of the significance behind the success of goals and how to orient yourself properly around projects in business and personal life. 

These are just a handful of the important questions you should ask yourself regularly. Remember, the biggest impediment to action can be, and often times is, action. Be aware of false productivity and productive procrastination. In addition to the shift in busy to productive with well-defined goals, we need to approach our life and all activities with the scientific method in mind. You can read about that here.

Find your why, define your goals, prioritize your goals, set your focus time, and be truly productive. Do this and you will be working diligently to build the life you truly want to lead with the people you want to lead it with. 

Far more to expand on here which I'll do in a future writing.

~ Bonde