As I admitted last week, I was not prepared Tuesday at 10am and dropped the ball with what was three consecutive months of PSC posts. Bummer right?
The reason was simple enough, “too busy”, “slammed”, “a lot of stuff going on”, you name it.
It got me thinking though, was I really too busy to write 1000 words or less? Had I used up every productive hour the week prior and really was left empty handed come Tuesday morning? Obviously the answer was a resounding NO. Too busy was really just my half-assed attempt at an excuse, and a lame one at that.
Then I started to think about the overall concept of Busy. It’s tossed around a lot. Between coworkers, at home, with friends. Over a 5 o’clock beer, people launch into conversation with Busy like they are weilding a sword bloodied from the day. I was so BUSY!!!
But what does Busy really mean? Is Busy really good?
My mind wandered a bit more and I thought about people like Richard Branson or Bill Gates. Do they come home, just exasperated and exclaim: Today was BUSY! Maybe. I’ll never really know. My hunch is probably not.
It just so happened that later in the week I was reading The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes.
In it he states:
“Imagine what it would be like if you were suddenly thrust into managing or running a $50 billion company. Do CEOs of giant corporations have more hours in a day than you do? Of course not. But they do need to be masters of this crucial competency: time management.”
Right there was the key.
I could clearly see that being Busy was simply the lack of good time managment. The way I understand time managment is not only developing a plan for how you are going to use your time but also in enforcing that plan with yourself and others.
You could have the most productive day planned but as soon as you start deviating from that plan or allowing others to intrerupt your plan then things shift from productive to Busy.
Get a plan
Moving forward I’ve now defined Busy as: Productive intent without a plan. You want to acheive and do some work, but you have no plan for it and end up operating at a much lower level of effiency.
The three main compontents to any successful productivity plan are simple:
- Capture & organize your tasks
- Plan out your productive time
- Execute & protect your plan
Capture your tasks
A huge contributing factor to Busy is relying on the human brain to help capture and remember what tasks are needed or important. The system of the solo brain typically leaves us in postions where we’ve forgotton about something more urgent than what we’ve been working on for the last 5 hours and then we’re left scrambling to get it done.
Using a task management framework is the foundation of banishing busy.
There’s a zillion out there but the one I’d start with is David Allen’s GTD (free book give away at the bottom of the post!). In it he lays out a plan you can start using tonight to help capture and organize what needs to get done.
Plan out your productive time
The next step is to then take your major task areas (work, school, a project, etc.) and block out time in your calendar dedicated to focusing on them. In my experience with this thing called real life, personally planning only works 1-3 days out. I typically try and plan on a Sunday night through Wednesday and then revisit on Wednesday for the rest of the week.
Additionally I keep all major work related items away from Saturday and Sunday. I strongly believe that those days should be focused on personal development, entertainment, etc. If you typically have to work over the weekends, try and find two other days in the week to keep clear.
Execute & protect your plan
This last step is the hardest. We can have the most amazing minute-to-minute plan, but unless we act upon it and more importantly ensure the plan’s integrety is maintained it will be an extreme waste of time.
As far as execution goes, this is one reason I suggest only planning a few days out in advance. It’s easier for me to know what’s important tomorrow and the next day vs. 4-5 days out.
If you work solo or from home, start to schedule time away from the house. You’l be less inclined to allow homely distractions (cleaning, entertainment, etc.) to derail your plan.
If you work in an office with others they are the most likely culpret to derail your plan. Ensure they know your schedule and when you’ll be working on specific projects. Nothing is wrong with letting them or your boss know that you’re attempting to be more productive throughout the day and in doing so have really planned out your time and can’t afford interruption.
(Note: This is why a system like HipChat is great because it can maintain a record of all the “hey, got a minute” interruptions until you’re ready to manage and act upon them.)
As so to recap the PSC Framework for Banishing Busy:
- Implement a task management system like GTD or similar
- Plan out your tasks and time no more than 1-3 days in advance
- Actually block out your time in a calendar like you’re scheduling meetings with yourself
- Preserve 2 days a week for personal and entertainment
- Maintain the intergrety of the plan by sharing it with other so they can respect it
- Eliminate distraction in your workplace (either internal or external)
The Challenge to Banish Busy
I’d like to challenge everyone to try and Banish Busy from their life. When someone asks you how your day was I’d love to hear the answer: MAN! I was so PRODUCTIVE today. I got so much done!
To get you started in the right track with step one from the framework, I’m giving away two copies of David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.
To enter, simply fill out this quick 5 question reader survey and make sure to provide your name and email:
https://keanecreative.wufoo.com/forms/psc-reader-feedback/
Great article! Learning how to set up my schedule and establish boundaries of my availability has been a process for me, but I’m getting there! As far as giant corporate CEOs however, you have to admit, they have one luxury that smaller businesses don’t always have – and that’s the resources in which to delegate tasks. If I could tell other people what to do…boy, that would be nice.
Yeah, I totally thought about that when I was writing, I should have mentioned the book went onto explain is how well they protect their time, which is to me the bigger take away.
Trying to get an appointment with a big company CEO takes weeks in advance scheduling, not because they are too important, but because they’ve planned out that far in advance how they are managing their time.
Russ, after three consecutive months it’s okay if you’re too “productive” and miss a week. But keep ‘em coming. PSC is always an enlightening read.