Are you busy? Do you frequently find yourself overwhelmed with all the tasks you need to be completing? Do you wish you had more hours in a day? Are you spending all of your time on your business?

If this sounds like you, I’ve got bad news for you.

Being busy really sucks. It means you don’t have time to do the worthwhile things in life. It means you are working all hours of the day and while you are getting some things accomplished, there always seems to be more to do. Very often you justify this to yourself by saying, “Everyone needs to work hard to achieve success” or “I can only be successful after putting in all the hours”.

Well, in actual fact, all you are doing is making excuses for yourself. Being busy is not a measure of success. Working hard is also not a measure of success. You would be better off making good use of your time by being productive instead of being busy.

So what is the difference?

Being busy is simply doing everything and anything that needs to be doing. It is often reacting to the list of tasks you have an indiscriminately spending time on it, regardless of whether it is a good use of your time. Instead of being busy, you should be productive instead.

Being productive is making a conscious decision to only do the tasks that are of value to you. It also means making use of technology or other ways to get more stuff done. What are some of the ways you can be productive?

Use Technology

Technology plays a vital role in businesses. A lot of productivity applications are available on the web for one to utilize, such as Todoist (task management), Hoopsuite (Social Media Management), Dashlane (password organizer), Evernote (managing ideas), Mailchimp (email and subscriber management), Xero (for financial and bookkeeping management), and many others.

These tools normally have features to make tasks easier. Instead of doing things manually, productivity is multiplied by taking advantage of many productivity apps and using them in your business.

Outsource

If you find yourself working long hours, it may be time to outsource. Hiring another person to do your lower-value tasks means you free yourself up to work on the stuff that matters. This is a more productive way of working as it means you can get more done in a shorter amount of time.

Nowadays, many entrepreneurs hire virtual assistants as they tend to be cheaper and skilled in many different aspects.

Make Some Personal Time

The most important thing in order to stop glorifying busy is to simply focus on spending time on stuff you enjoy. Once you start enjoying your life again, you will realise that you miss having leisure and personal time. Take a few days off. If that sounds daunting, start by taking a day off. Go to a spa, spend quality time with your family, enjoy your hobbies, or hibernate. Temporarily escaping from your business gets your brain cells and energy replenished. Avoid working on your day off. Take this chance to simply live a productive life. If you have set it up correctly, even when you are enjoying your wine, your personal assistant or your apps are still working for you.

Stop being busy and let’s start getting productive.

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