Everyone is busy.
The temptation is to think that just because we’re very busy, that we’re being effective, or productive.
Let me be clear: Busy or not, if you are not being productive…you are wasting your time!
I am more convinced than ever before, that we can be VERY busy and yet be VERY ineffective.
How can we be BOTH effective, and busy? The answer is incredible simple to understand and incredibly difficult to do.
Being both busy and effective requires:
Doing the right things: WHAT is important.
At the right times: WHEN it is important.
For the right reasons: WHY it is important.
Example: Returning phone calls is important to me. However, spending time with God and nurturing my own vitality are the MOST IMPORTANT things for me. So…I don’t take or return many calls early in the morning, because that is when my mind is the freshest and I want to give my best mental energy to God. I rob from the urgent to focus on the most important.
If I answered every phone call at everyone else’s whim in the mornings, it would be impossible to devote large chunks of uninterrupted time when my mind is the freshest to this task.
So I have scheduled time slots each day when I return most phone calls. If I can’t connect with that person then, I try at the end of the day.
This approach to managing my day allows me to be both busy and effective. What about you? What are ways you think you could better be both busy and effective?
What are YOUR right things? Right times? Right reasons?
