Course Content
Introduction
Do you actually know how busy and when your staff is really busy? There are so many staff members that always looks busy, but are they just keeping themselves busy, or are they actually busy with productive work?
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Introduction
06:17
Focus on most important tasks first
Prioritization is a key part to productivity
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Focus on the most important tasks first
05:52
Cultivate Deep Work
By Newport's definition, deep work refers to: “Professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”
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Cultivate Deep Work
00:00
Keep a distraction list to stay focused
Often our own mind can be the biggest source of distractions when we sit down to work: • We suddenly remember the bananas we forgot to pick up at the grocery store. • We begin worrying about the presentation we have to give next week. • A sense of dread creeps over us when we realize how much work we still have to get done by the end of the day. The Distractions List is a simple but powerful technique for dealing with internal distractions like these. By immediately writing down our distracting thoughts, we signal to our minds that those distractions are acknowledged and will be taken care of if necessary. I first came across this idea, by the way, in Chris Bailey’s book Hyperfocus.
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Keep a distraction list to stay focused
10:16
Busy vs. Productive: The Ultimate Challenge
About Lesson

Do you actually know how busy and when your staff is really busy? There are so many staff members that always looks busy, but are they just keeping themselves busy, or are they actually busy with productive work?

Over the years I have read numerous books and articles all related to productivity and busyness in order to self-improve as I used to think that I need to be constantly busy and work longer hours to maximise my potential and output. The sad thing is that because I have also expected the same from my staff, the repercussion may have resulted in a less productive environment.

The same may be true for your personnel as well. They may be unbelievably busy, but less productive due to their efforts to get ahead in their careers. This is not a bad thing, if you know what to look for, and know how to best guide and mentor them.

The main difference between being busy and being productive is that being busy is frantic and being productive if focussed. Thus, in order to get yourself and your employees more productive is to ensure they are focussed, and purpose driven.

It is due to this scenario that we felt it necessary to create this series of articles. We figured, if we experienced the ripple effect of busyness vs productivity then there will most definitely be a similar need, problem or just a requirement for improvement in the market.

COVID has left its mark on all of us, and our companies. Whether it is just a set of retrenchments, the unfortunate loss of some team members or just the loss of income and a constant stream of clients we were all affected in some way or the other.

With this additional strain and stress we definitely need to focus on producing more for less, or having the ability and some guidance on when, where and how to pivot. But in order to pivot without having the available budget we will need to ensure productivity is ramped up to allow for the creation of a pivot product or service.

At the end of the day, productivity equals time and time equals possible income.

Over the next 6 weeks we will publish 3 articles per week as part of this series which guides you through the process of identifying, managing, and altering behaviour in order to obtain that perfect match between productivity and busyness.

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