Being Productive VS Being Busy
The main factor that differentiates successful entrepreneurs from others is that successful entrepreneurs always concentrate more of their efforts on being productive rather than being busy and this is because they understand that we are living in times when being busy no longer bears any fruits as compared to being productive which yields the results they want.
So What’s Being Busy?
Being busy is being preoccupied doing many things which don’t necessarily add up at the day’s end and which nevertheless make one feel psychologically safe that they’re at least doing something with their life.
And What’s Being Productive?
Being productive is the process of engaging in few activities which really matter and which at the day’s end produce quality results that are either proportional or more proportional to the effort that was put in.
Here are some examples on Being Productive VS Being Busy to further explain what I mean
- Let’s assume that Scope is being busy pushing against a wall from different angles with all his might hoping that it will one day succumb to his efforts and finally fall apart.
- Let’s assume that Gater has directed his efforts towards looking for a way to bring down a wall and finally focuses on using a sledgehammer to bring down the wall.
What’s most likely to happen is that Scope who’s being busy pushing against the wall in the first example will get tired and conclude that it’s impossible to bring down the wall hence he’ll quit after a day or two while Gater from the second example will gradually demolish the wall with his sledgehammer enjoying every part of it and he’ll conclude that demolishing a wall is a piece of cake. This in the end will result in Scope having a negative mindset which tells him it’s impossible to bring down the wall since he had previously been busy trying to bring it down while Gater who was being productive will end up satisfied at how well his sledgehammer brought down the wall hence he’ll end up more confident that he can bring down a bigger wall.
Successful entrepreneurs direct their efforts at being productive rather than being busy because they understand success is a game about results and not activity
From the above examples it goes without saying that Scope who was being busy pushing against the wall will become worn out and frustrated with nothing much other than sores on his hands to show for all his efforts since the wall will still be standing there while Gater who was being productive looking for a way to bring down the wall ends up happier and more self-motivated in tackling an even bigger wall and this my friends is the difference between being busy and being productive; it’s all about where you first direct your efforts.
Busy people act first then think later while productive people think first then act later
The truth is that being busy most of the time leads to people not properly packaging and focusing their efforts while being productive challenges people to first focus their efforts on thinking of how to solve the problem then directing their efforts into solving it.
“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree I would spend six hours sharpening my axe”-Abraham Lincoln
Remember that being busy often leads to following the same routine over and over, almost like in a rat race, while being productive leads to the creation of fresh ideas on how to effectively solve a problem.
Let us know what you think of the above post on Being Productive VS Being Busy, we’d love to hear from you!