Taking action is something that we preach here on The Pursuit of Happiness Blog. However, action alone is not good enough to cut it. The action you take must be decisive and intentional. It must have a desired outcome that takes you closer to achieving your goal. So many people think that because they keep themselves busy doing things it means that they will find the success they desire. This is not the case as it is not good enough to just be busy. The action you take must be purposeful and contribute towards a desired outcome, otherwise you are wasting time telling yourself you’re busy and wondering where the progress is rather than focusing on the important actions that you must take that will actually drive your progress forward.
How being busy is not enough
Being busy and being productive are two separate things. While one may be a component of the other, these words are not interchangeable. Being busy means that your time is consumed with things. What things you’re doing and how they help you achieve a desired outcome is not a component of being busy. It is simply just an expression illustrating that you are spending your time doing something. Being productive means you are taking intentional actions that will result in a desired outcome. It means you are working towards a goal and that you are spending your time doing the highest value activities to make sure that goal is achieved. You see, being busy and productive at the same time is great. It means you are hard at work taking actions that will result in your success. However, just being busy is not going to cut it.
How do I ensure I am being productive instead of just busy?
“I’m busy” is a phrase that is thrown around by so many of us on a daily basis. But as we said before, being busy doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re being productive. Being productive means that there is a bigger desired outcome to the action you are currently taking. That action will result directly in the progress towards or achievement of said outcome. Because your time is so valuable, before you begin doing an activity, think to yourself about what the outcome of that activity will be and if the time you put in is worth that outcome. Using this decision-making process as a mechanism to filter out the “busy work” from your day will help you make the most out of your time and make sure those actions will bear fruit. The last thing you want to do on a day-to-day basis is do activities that have no impact on your desired outcomes.
Being productive doesn’t mean immediate success
After reading the above, some people may think that being intentionally productive with their actions will result in instant success. This is not the case. As most other things worthwhile in life, the act of you doing something consistently over time will result in the outcome you desire. That time frame depends on how much you can accomplish and how productive you are with your time. All intentional action does is guarantee success over time through consistency. By no means is this easy, but it is necessary. There are no shortcuts to success. There is no substitute for intentional action. All the success you can achieve is up to you and you alone. How will you spend your time? Will you be analyzing your actions throughout the day to make sure your time is spent being productive rather than busy? There is no secret formula.
The power of leverage
How can you ensure your time is spent on the tasks that will propel you towards success? Is there a path you can take to speed up the journey to financial freedom? The answer is yes, however it is no shortcut and is difficult in its own right. This is the concept of leveraging tasks. In my businesses, I’ve leveraged necessary but time-consuming tasks to other people. This ensures the necessary components are still being completed, however it frees up my time to focus on what I’m best at and what I need to do to grow. For example, in the past I used to cold call a lot in my real estate business. This was a time-consuming part of my day, but it was a necessary task in order to make sure there were leads coming in. After a while of doing this I was able to leverage this task to a virtual assistant to complete for me so I can focus on the bigger picture tasks of growing my business. After months of doing this, I was able to still get leads in my inbox every day all while doing higher-level activities that would grow my business. I’ve since discontinued the cold calling method as I’ve moved on to larger commercial properties, however the concept remains the same for me. Right now, my business partners and I are doing everything again from contract to close. This is a lot of work and is keeping me from focusing on the growth of my business. However, our plan is to master this process so we can write it out in a manual and teach it to someone motivated to learn and be a part of the business. This person will become our transaction coordinator and it will alleviate this duty off my daily task board allowing me to focus on growth and higher-level work. Productive work can eventually become busy work if you don’t leverage some of the day-to-day tasks out to other highly competent people when you have the ability to do so. Intentional action will help you scale up the pole of what is productive for you to do and what no longer is. Leveraging out of productive tasks and into higher-level new ones is how you become successful. Understand the actions you take and what the desired outcomes of those actions are on a daily basis. Your time is a valuable asset and should be treated accordingly. If you inherit this practice, success will become inevitable.