Men's Complete Life

Resources for the Complete Man- health, wellness, self-improvement

Menu
  • Mental Health
  • Physical Health
  • Reviews
  • About Me
  • Privacy Policy
Menu
Too Busy

Busy or Effective?

Posted on August 4, 2017April 5, 2018 by Mat A.

Busy Or Effective

Too BusySo many of us run around like the proverbial chicken with it’s head cut off.  We rush around from one task to the next at work.  We zip around to one event after the other at home.  To the son’s baseball games, to the daughters volleyball tournaments.  We have never ending to do lists.  At home we have to mow the yard, we have to help someone with homework, we have to drive someone to practice, we have to clean the house because the Johnson’s are coming over for cocktails and canasta.  I don’t even know what canasta is, it just rhymed.  Point is, we are super busy.

But are we effective?  That’s the question.  It’s EASY to be busy, everyone can do that.  It’s harder to be effective, not many people do that.

How to tell if you are being busy or effective:

1. Busy people have many priorities, productive people have few priorities.  One of my own personal cardinal rules in life is this:  Nobody is ever too busy, if they care they will make the time.  It is really that simple.  Life is a question of priorities.  If you have 3-4 main priorities, you have priorities.  If you have 25, you’re a mess.  The best way to tell if you are a priority in someone’s life is to watch how much they make time for you.

2.  Busy people keep all doors open, productive people close doors.  The power of saying “NO” is amazing.  Yeah, a lot of people will think you’re a selfish dick but do you really care a lot about those people anyway?  It’s okay to say no.  Saying no and closing doors allows you to focus on less things with more time and intent, thus making them priorities.

3.  Busy people talk about how little time they have and how busy they are, productive people make time for what is important to them.  Show me a man that seems to only spend his time on his work, his relationships, his health, and one big hobby and I’ll tell you that man is focused on what’s important to him and probably sailing a clearly set path with a calm mind.  Show me a man that tries to do 50 things in one day and I don’t want to know what’s going on in his head.

4.  Busy people multitask, productive people focus.  if you know about the Pomodoro technique then you know exactly what this is all about.  Identify a task that needs to be done.  Set a timer for 20 minutes.  Work on said task until the timer sounds.  If you have any, and I mean ANY distractions that take you off task (check email, check phone, go get water) then reset the timer to 20 minutes.  How many pomodoros do you think you can do in a day?

5.  Busy people respond quickly to emails, productive people take their time.  For all you cube farmers out there, this hits close to home.  Email is handy list of priorities.  Funny thing is they aren’t yours, they are someone else’s.  If you respond to every email you are taking away from your own productivity.  Remember the king of email advice – Delete, Do, Defer.  That’s it.

6.  Busy people talk about how they are going to change.  Productive people are making those changes.  And they don’t waste time telling you about how they are going to change and what they are going to do.  You know why?  They don’t care what you think or want your approval.  And most importantly, they don’t waste their time or effort explaining how they are going to do it.  They just do it.  Thanks Nike!

All my Best,

Mat A.

Sydney Harbor

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

2 thoughts on “Busy or Effective?”

  1. John Rico says:
    August 8, 2017 at 7:55 pm

    Hey there! I found your article very interesting and informative. I agree with your article being busy doesn’t mean that you are effective or productive. Being effective is hard than being busy. And being effective can finish something perfectly than people who are busy and does many things. Most of the time I’m busy but I’m not sure if I’m effective or productive. Can a person be a busy as well as productive?

    Reply
    1. Mat A. says:
      August 8, 2017 at 9:32 pm

      Hi John,

      Thanks for stopping by and checking out the post.  Glad to hear your thoughts and appreciate you sharing them.  I like to think I can be busy and productive at the same time BUT it’s easy to get focused simply on what I “need to do” and sometimes have to raise my head up and ask how important is what i am doing in the grand scheme of things.

      Thanks!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • How To Speak Up At Work Without Being Offensive
  • 7 Ground Rules for Dealing with Interpersonal Conflict at Work
  • How Hard Is It To Change Your Attitude
  • How Does Volunteering Benefit You
  • What To Do On Father’s Day

Categories

  • Life Lessons (107)
  • Mental Health (112)
  • My Recommendations (75)
  • Physical Health (49)
  • Reviews (10)
  • Uncategorized (11)

Recent Comments

  • Mat A. on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Mat A. on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Benny on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Mike Ramen on How To Practice Active Listening (A Step by Step Guide)
  • Mat A. on Why Are People So Flaky?

Archives

  • March 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017




Follow & Like Us ;)

Get new posts by email

Please follow :)

RSS
Follow by Email
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Tweet
Instagram
© 2023 Men's Complete Life | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme
error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)

  • RSS
  • Follow by Email
  • Facebook
    Facebook
    fb-share-icon
  • Twitter
    Visit Us
    Follow Me
    Tweet
  • Instagram