In the distraction and fast-paced economy,’ busyness’ is one distinctive mark of entrepreneurs and top managers.
Unless in a club or social meetings where the sole aim is to network for business or entice a client, rarely do you find most managers and entrepreneurs sitting down to unwind and enjoy a drink or a meal with family.
Being busy is not a sign of being hardworking or productive. Actually, most busy people don’t achieve results commensurate with their busyness. They end up working very hard for less and quite often inviting stress-related illnesses.
The key to success and productivity is being focused and selective in what you do. Otherwise, you will sacrifice important things like family relations, your own health and better part of good life. In that case what you will achieve is money and fame, and not success.
There are certain things that if done well can multiply your productivity, create more time for you and your loved ones, reduce stress and boost your health. One of them is focusing on the highest value activities.
You can eliminate or delegate low-value activities if you cannot outsource them to third parties if you are in business.
The downside of this is there will be small losses and discomfort here and there because many of those tasks will not be done according to your full expectation. But then you don’t have to be a perfectionist or lose focus of the passing elephant while tracking warthogs and gazelles.
Time is your most valuable resource and how you spend it will break or make you. Highly effective people spend their time on tasks that bring in the most returns.
That means you need to evaluate your life, business, or job and prioritise what is most important. Weed out or prune your activities in order to focus and direct all your resources and energies where you get the highest returns on your investment.
That means you need to put your time and effort into tasks that have a clear impact on your business.
Decide what task you will outsource. This will cater for things that are important but are of low value.
Another important aspect of improving productivity is waking up early and going to bed early.
Sleep is a very important component of both health and productivity. It has been scientifically proven that people who wake up early tend to be less stressed and depressed. They tend to have enough time to work in the morning when they are full of energy and start the day well.
Going to bed early ensures you have enough time to rest and recharge for the next day.
Setting very clear goals on what you want to achieve and drafting a plan of achieving them is critical to avoiding a rat race kind of life devoid of fulfilment.
When you set clear goals you are able to celebrate milestones and achievements. This also helps you to stay on course and avoid deviations and spreading yourself too thin, which are the major source of failure, busyness without productivity and stressful life.
Mr Kiunga is a business trainer and the author of The Art of Entrepreneurship: Strategies to Succeed in a Competitive Market. [email protected]
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