Why It’s Time To Break Up With ‘Busy’
Why It’s Time To Break Up With ‘Busy’
When someone asks how you are, do you find yourself answering, ‘busy’? Being busy is seen as being a productive member of society. But is hustling all the time and never having time to enjoy life really how you want to live your life?
Let’s take a look at why busy isn’t the goal, and how to be efficient and focused without falling into the hustle trap.
Is busy all it’s cracked up to be?
I get it – we’ve all been there before. You feel the pressure of needing to be on the go and doing something. Otherwise, you’re being ‘lazy’, ‘unfocused’, ‘not productive enough’. Social media tells you that you need to be achieving constantly just to keep up – otherwise, you’re falling behind.
But it’s time to break up with being busy.
Busy does not equate to being productive. In fact, in most cases, it’s the absolute opposite. See someone ticking 100 to-dos off their list every single day? There’s a good chance that a lot of those to-dos are tiny tasks that don’t really move the needle towards their goals! This is a perfect example of being busy without making any real progress.
Staying ‘busy’ all the time is not a sign of accomplishment. Instead, let’s focus on being productive and efficient when we’re in doing mode, and balancing that with regular breaks and time to rest.
What does this look like?
Taking the time to really think through the tasks and goals, and planning ahead. Focusing on one task at a time, and completing it before moving onto the next – rather than getting distracted and half-finishing 5 different projects! And it means incorporating breaks into your day, week and month to give your mind a break and refresh your focus.
How to be productive without being busy
So now here’s the tricky part – how can you stay productive and focused without slipping into the ‘busy’ mindset? Here are my favourite ways to get things done efficiently, minus the mental pressure and overwhelm.
Make a to-do list
To move towards any goal, you need to know the steps. Otherwise, it’s easy to fill your day with ‘busy work’ like checking and responding to emails. So start by writing down your tasks for each day. This helps you to stay organised and on-track.
Struggle with time management? I cover this in detail in my MORE Balance course – find the details here.
Prioritise your tasks
We all have dozens of tasks that we could be doing – so how can you figure out what to do? This is where it’s useful to decide which tasks are higher priority.
You can try using the 4 quadrants for your tasks. Put them into columns of:
Urgent and important (highest priority)
Important, not urgent
Urgent, not important
Not urgent or important (lowest priority)
Now does this mean you’ll never complete lower priority tasks? Not at all – but it’s best to leave them for later in the day or week. Focus your energy and attention on the urgent, important tasks when you’re most productive.
Set realistic goals
Don’t try to do too much at one time. You can’t go from never running a single step to completing a marathon – you need to break it down. If you do have big goals, find the milestones and smaller goals within them that you can work towards over time.
No idea how to plan, track or achieve your goals? I share my methods here.
Take breaks regularly
Productivity isn’t solely dependent on what you achieve task-wise. Your mind needs you to have downtime and regular breaks, as this allows you to stay focused when you’re working towards your goals.
This is important not only on a daily basis, but also a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Make sure you incorporate holidays, weekends off, short meditation breaks – it all adds up to a more productive you.
Delegate what you can
At the end of the day, we all have a limited amount of time to get things done. And unfortunately, there is more to ‘do’ in a day than ever! You also bring certain skills and strengths to the table that make some tasks easier to achieve, whereas others feel like an uphill battle.
This is where delegation can pay off. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or delegate tasks to others. It could even be worth investigating how you can outsource your least favourite tasks.
For example, if you loathe housework but your productivity soars with a tidy house, see if you have the budget to get a cleaner in. Even if it’s only every month or two, the investment pays itself off by boosting your productivity and focus.
Or if it’s something that you can’t completely outsource, you can outsource the accountability. One of my biggest roles as a coach is keeping clients focused on their goals by checking in with them regularly. This way, they are still doing their part through healthy habits, but they don’t have to rely on their own willpower alone.
Eliminate distractions
We live in a world full of distractions – pings from new emails, buzzing watches and notifications from every single app. But the more you allow yourself to be distracted during your focus time, the less you get done.
Why? Because multitasking is a myth!
When you try to multitask – say by checking your emails while you’re writing an assignment – you’re actually switching between the tasks multiple times. This drains your focus and your mental energy. Whereas if you wrote the assignment and then checked your emails afterwards, it would take far less effort.
Pay attention to your own distractions and find ways to ditch them. You may like to hide your phone in another room for a period of time, turn on Do Not Disturb, or even use an app to block certain websites.
Find your peak productivity times
We all have different mental energy patterns throughout the day, leading to fluctuations in productivity and focus. Some people are best in the morning, some during the day, and some late into the evening.
For example, I’ve gone back to doing the majority of my work between 5am-11am. Why? Because I’m more focused, I’m refreshed from sleep, and I can write and create with ease (not to mention there are minimal distractions!)
Find the time that you’re most productive, and focus on getting your most important tasks done during that block of time.
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Hey there, I’m Rachel!
NUTRITIONIST, PERSONAL TRAINER, WELLNESS COACH
Here I share healthy recipe ideas, training plans, and nutrition & wellness advice you need to know.
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