August 18, 2015

Busy vs. Productive

In this day in age, everyone is soooooo busy. Busy building a brand. Busy changing lives. Busy on
social media. Busy walking in circles. Busy protesting. Busy rallying. Busy doing nothing. LOL! Yes, sometimes I say I'm busy because I don't want to do anything. A consistently full schedule can be exhausting. Sometimes you do need to schedule in "nothing" also known as down time.

Being a business woman and a hospital laboratory manager, I find it more valuable to be productive than "busy". We only have 24 in a day, so when I work on my business, my "Money Making Time" needs to be spent doing just that, doing activities that will make me money. Or get my mind right so that I can make money. If I find that that is a way to automate a task. I automate. If there is a task that doesn't require my direct input, I delegate. There is a list of things that I have to do every single day and then there are special items on my "to-do" list that I like to take inventory at the end of each day to make sure I got those things done. Boom. Productivity.

As a lab manager, productivity looks a little bit differently. I can pull data to see the "productivity" of my staff. Who did how much of what and how long it took them. Sometimes, I measure my own productivity by how messy my desk is. LOL! I am constantly looking for ways to improve processes so that my staff can use their time efficiently instead of wasting time working on, what I like to call, "foo foo ka ka stuff". It's just not efficient use of resources for me to pay a skilled professionals to perform clerical tasks, like scanning and filing papers, just to say they're "busy". When the auditors come to assess my department, there is no fat to trim. We are all "productive".

Let's get into "busy." I"ll admit it, I, too, have fallen victim to popcorn brain and shiney object syndrome. I'll start doing one thing then get distracted by a text message or an indicator light on my phone. The next thing I know, I've spent an hour on the internet chasing down the real reason Mariah and Quad, from Married to Medicine, had a falling out. Yeah. I was busy. If no one actually saw what was on my phone, they'd probably think I was reading emails or a personal development book. But was I productive? No. LOL!

A goal is nothing but a wish if you don't have a plan of action. Actions without a plan just keep you busy and not productive. It's so easy to get caught up in "activities" for the sake of doing something or being seen or getting the attention of the media. Everyone is busy but are they busy making decisive, calculated moves or are they just running on a treadmill. Moving, just not toward anything. When you are participating in activities, ask yourself "What am I trying to achieve here?" "Is this a good use of my time?" "Is this helping the cause?" "Will this activity actually make a difference?" "Is this going to help me reach my goal?" Or am I just gonna be busy?

In my journey toward the fanciest life possible, I've learned a lot about myself and improved how I operate to increase productivity. Having a Fancy life is possible but if you need help with getting where you want to be, I would LOVE to help you. Fill out the contact information form so we can schedule your consultation on how to move from being busy to being productive.