Step out of the 'busy' illusion into meaningful action.

Being busy vs Being productive

productivity desk setup busy

In these modern days, it’s easy to think that doing a lot of things and being occupied with things is what correlated to our success. However, that is far from the truth.

We will explore the differences between busy vs productive, why they are different, and how we can start being more productive with our time, rather than busy.

Busy vs Productive

James is always busy.

He checks his email and social media every 5 minutes to make sure he always responds on time and he doesn’t miss anything.

He is always occupied with tasks and activities and doesn’t have any free time to relax and enjoy life.

Jhon on the contrary is a productive guy.

He makes sure to not get distracted with “busy” work like checking email because he knows that those activities only give an illusion of progress and take away the attention to focus on the things that really matter.

He doesn’t just spend his time occupied with tasks and activities, he makes sure that he is doing the right things and the things that will move him to the place that he wants to be in.

Rather than being occupied, he makes sure that he is being intentional with his time.

He also makes time to relax and enjoy life since he knows that rest will improve his focus when he is working.

busy vs productive infographic
Busy vs Productive - Infographic

How can I be more productive?

First, you need to understand that being busy is not being productive… it’s not about being occupied with tasks, but rather doing the tasks that will get us where we want to be.

That being said, here are some tips and tricks that you can use to help with this.

Pomodoro

The Pomodoro technique is simple – work for 25 minutes and rest for 5 minutes. (You can do 50-10 or the way you prefer)

This technique is useful in many ways, and it helps you give your full attention to the task you are doing and not get distracted with “busy” work, also having those little breaks seems to enhance your ability to focus and concentrate.

You can use a simple website like Pomofocus or if you prefer you can use Forest which plants a tree when you complete a section, gamificating the process a bit.

Time-Blocking

Time blocking is the technique that I use to manage my time and be more productive in my work. In summary, it consists of planning and blocking the time in the calendar for the tasks that you will be doing.

If you are interested you can read my blog post which explains this technique in detail: How Does Elon Musk Manage His Time? A Comprehensive Guide to Time Blocking

Weekly Review

Weekly Review is a practice used by top performers around the world and in all fields.

It’s about looking back into the week and looking at how we spent our time and in what activities.

This way we make sure we are using our time intentionally and in tune with our goals and not just being busy. And after this introspection, make changes accordingly.

You can use a journal, a fancy note-taking tool, or even Google Docs, it doesn’t really matter.

Conclusion

A quick review.

We talked about how busy and productive are different and what those differences look like, we also talked about some tips for becoming more productive and less busy.

I hope you got something valuable in this edition of Curiosity Fuel, and thank you for reading, it means the world.

It’s always an honor to be in your inbox, until next Sunday. 👋

— Idris Moura

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AUTHOR
Idris Moura

Creator and writer of the Curiosity Fuel newsletter. Exploring my curiosity and sharing ideas and frameworks to fuel your personal growth, without all the bullshit. Read my full story on About Me.

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