.(Published Online: 7th March 2007)

Preamble

I once knew someone who worked in a consulting outfit, before moving to a financial establishment. Just as was the case in his previous job, he was perpetually leaving home as early as 6.00am and coming back home many times close to - or past - midnight. It was not unusual to run into him and hear him say how busy he was; what time he got home the night before; how he had so much lined up to do the next day at the office - or how he needed to travel to three(3) different states or even abroad within the next 2 weeks etc. Quite often he would end his "I'm busy" litany with the phrase "I just don't have time!".

Don't get me wrong here. This guy was really hard working and honest. That was not the problem. What I did not like was that he appeared to "enjoy" telling people how much his work demanded of his time, thereby making him unavailable to do other things. He also seemed to have the mistaken impression - like many other "busy" persons do - that activity equates directly to results/achievement.

Depending on the type of society you belong to, the concept of work and how it should be done can have different meanings or connotations. This article attacks the wrong assumptions some people in society make about HOW a person should go about delivering desired results in the workplace to the satisfaction of those to whom s/he is responsible(including him/herself).

The question is, which is better: to be "productive" or to be "busy"? My personal experiences and observation of people's performances in different workplace environments show a huge difference in quality and volume of work done occur when people cannot make the distinction. This article sheds light on the differences, explaining how you can make better use of your work-related time, energy and resources, to achieve greater career successes.

If You Have Something Worthwhile To Show For Being Busy, Then You're Also Productive, BUT "Get-A-Life" Life Outside Your Workplace Too!

I was once like that(i.e. lacking free time for myself). As a 25 year old management trainee in the technical function(1995), I would work nearly 24 hours round the clock in the brewery in Benin - staying on or returning soon after close of the day's work to do other things using my spare time. Many times, I would have a new spreadsheet application or training module/tangible "product" to show for my efforts. But one day, Stuart Walker, one of the expatriate Training Coordinators I reported to said these words to me: "Tayo, you spend so much time in the brewery, and never seem to take a break. There is a world outside Guinness you know!"

Those words sank in, and soon after I began to explore other interests I had. This led me to later begin French classes and travel to Cameroon during my leave to consolidate my spoken fluency. I also found time to write and enter a research/experience based paper for the Nigerian Institute of Management(NIM)'s young manager's competition, getting to the national finals. This was in addition to exploring 2 different business ideas I had on a trial basis while on annual leave.

During these periods, I discovered that there were many other things outside my brewery work-life that interested me, and which I found gave me greater pleasure! These diversions were not only refreshing, they also helped me achieve more balance to my life! All of that eventually triggered in me the realisation that I wanted to be free from the restrictions of paid employment, to do things that interested me - including running my own business. Four years afterwards, I would resign my appointment to start the work I now do today - a decision I remain VERY glad I took!

Lessons that can be derived from the foregoing are as follows:

1). Being busy or creating the impression of being busy will not help you become more effective or efficient(in achieving desired results).

2). No matter how much work we have to do, if we are to maintain high productivity, we MUST learn to "get away" and indulge in healthy and relaxing diversions aka LEISURE.

3). Making effort to achieve a balance in life will enable us re-examine our values and priorities with a view to re-discovering and re-inventing ourselves.

You Can Be "Busy" Without Being "Productive"(A True Story)

I once heard the story of a peculiar individual who perpetually told everyone that approached him at work that he was "busy". He gained quite a reputation for being extremely difficult to pin down when he was required to make himself available to a colleague(s) to supply information (based in his expertise or area of responsibility) crucial for progress to be made by say a special project team.

On one occasion, the overall head of the site had to be notified that Buba(not his real name) had still not found time from his "busy" schedule to test/confirm that the machine component supplied was fit for use. The site head on that particular day had to literally speaking read Buba the riot act to get him to do his bit, so the project that was long overdue for completion could be taken to the next stage!

Interestingly enough, it is these kinds of people who will be quick to challenge their bosses at work for what they consider poor performance appraisal ratings. Very often they will do so because they think their willingness to arrive early and leave late - in addition to the impression of "busyness" they create - translates to being productive or adding value to the workplace.

If the truth be told however, many times these persons spend most of their time at work doing routine and repetitive/mundane tasks that should take half the time they end up spending on them. They are they kind of people who will resist attempts by creative contemporaries to streamline workplace processes using office automation tools/resources, which would effectively eliminate many of those routine and repetitive tasks that they use as convenient excuses to look busy.

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“After listening to each of my subordinates give me a self-appraisal of their performance, I have come to the conclusion that I have only three types of people working for me - Stars, All Stars and Superstars!” - Gunther Brink
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Measure Your Workplace Output To Assess Yourself

One thing that always puzzles me about "busy" people is that they never seem capable of seeing themselves, and assessing the quality and volume of work they deliver within the TIME that was available to them. The truth about work is that if you wish to be continuously successful at it, you must find a way to imbibe the Best Practice culture of Continuous Improvement. This implies you will routinely explore ways to do it with (i) less effort, (ii) in less time, (iii) at less cost and (iv) using less resources.

Each of the four benefits I just listed has a direct impact on overall profitability/productivity of any work activity. There is no serious minded business owner or decision maker that will not CHERISH the services or contributions of a team member or employee who is able to WORK in a way that ensures at least ONE of those benefits is realised. And the reason for this is simple: Such team members or employees make the business MORE profitable, because the increased workplace output that results from achieving those benefits makes the business earn greater income(or generate MORE output) at less expense.

The truth is that to ascertain how successful you are in doing any type of work, you need to MEASURE yourself against some kind of targets. Typically in your workplace, your deliverables would have been clearly defined in a Job Description and/or Annual Performance Objectives document discussed and agreed/signed with your boss or supervisor. You would then need to decide how to go about meeting those set goals as closely as possible or exceeding them.

If you set up a practical system to PERSONALLY measure your output on a daily basis against the deliverables derived from your job description or performance objectives, you stand a good chance of making better use of your "likely-to-be" limited time and resources by being MORE productive instead of being just plain BUSY!

Which Do You Want To Be : A "Balanced" Or "Out-Of-Balanced" Person?

In a 2002 edition of his succeedinginbusiness.com newsletter, Jeffery Meyer pointed out that there are six key sides to a "balanced person", adding that an "out-of-balanced person" never has time to think about the rest of his/her life! The six key dimensions of a "balanced person" listed by Meyer include:

i). Family

ii). Financial

iii). Spiritual

iv). Self-development

v). Physical well-being, and

vi). Social/Community.

As you can imagine, being a Self-Development/Performance Enhancement advocate, I was particularly pleased that he included the fourth item - "Self-Development" - in his list :-).

Which of the six are you missing - and WHY? This article was written to challenge (or serve as a wake up call for) you to rearrange your priorities the RIGHT side up and start living the life you DESERVE from today.

Get Started: Download A Planned Activity Tracking Sheet Spreadsheet Template

All through my time in paid employment, I actively used a tool that I called my "Planned Activity Tracking Sheet " to help myself stay focussed on using my time effectively and efficiently, so that I was very often HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE at work.

If you read my article titled "Achieve Recognition And Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By being A Change Agent", you will learn about some of the many workplace successes/career advancement benefits that I achieved as a result of doing so. To record the same or better results, I suggest you adopt a similar(if not this) tool for your daily use today. Click HERE to request a FREE copy of the template now.