Busy versus Productive

“There’s nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all”

Peter Drucker

As this second full week of April unfolds, I find myself challenged by the above quote. How often do we find ourselves becoming busy with things that are irrelevant? How often do we equate busyness with productivity? I know I have.

Being busy does not always mean you are being productive. Having a laundry lists of activities and tasks doesn’t always mean you’re being effective or efficient.

How can I be efficient with the things that matter most in this quarter of the year? What matters most and how can I prioritize it?

I believe a key to doing efficiently the things that matter most is knowing what you’ve committed yourself to. Knowing what you’ve said yes to gives way for you to know what you do not have the time, energy, or resources for. Also know that as the seasons change, as the months go on things can and will look different.

It’s a new quarter, the next three months are a blank canvas you get to fill with new adventures, exciting projects, fresh ideas, and life lived. Regardless of how successful or counterproductive the last three months were, you have the power to change what comes next.

Jumping into this week does not have to look like all the other weeks. This week, we get to make things different. We get to decide what we commit ourselves to for the next three months. We get to dream up what we want April, May, and June to be. It’s in the reassessing and the dreaming that we figure out what we’ve said yes to and we go from doing unnecessary things efficiently to doing the right things effectively.

Looking at the last 3 months and looking ahead at the next 3 months, what are some things you wanna see happen? What changes do you think you'll need to make to see them happen? How can you be more efficient in doing the right things versus busying yourself with unnecessary things?