Confusing activity for productivity

Peter Crocker It’s 5.01pm on Monday 5 January, 2009. You’re on holidays sipping a beverage, enjoying a water view. You’ve got a booking for Italian at 7.30. Life is good. Then your mind drifts back to 2008. How do you feel?

When I was asked in July to work on slogans for a Christmas banner, I almost fell down the chimney. Surely ‘tis not yet the season to be thinking about Christmas? Apparently it is.

And I bet you’ve had a conversation recently along the lines of “I can’t believe it’s August already… More than half the year’s gone!!”

So how is your year going? You may have been busy, which is great. But have you have been truly productive?

Frantically crossing off the next small task on your list is easy. So, on the whole, is keeping customers happy in the short term. As difficult as it feels sometimes, simply putting your head down and ploughing through day after day of hard work is relatively straightforward.

What is a whole lot harder is escaping these short-term, low-payoff activities long enough to identify the long-term, high-payoff activities that are truly going to transform your business and life.

Keeping busy is easy. Staying productive and focused is hard.

Just for a moment, I suggest you try and forget today’s pressing tasks. Instead, consider the big goals you set for yourself this year. When you’re relaxing on the balcony next January, what one achievement would you most like to reflect on?

Forget the big strategic plan. Just grab a post-it note, write down the one or two big goals that you resolved to complete this year and stick them on your mirror. Then at the start of each day ask yourself what you can do to progress them a little further.

There are only two options. You’ll have them done by the end of the year or you won’t. You’ve got 158 days. As Lleyton might say ‘C’MON!’

Now’s the time to get your head down, get focused and get busy doing the stuff that matters.

Are you on track to achieve your 2008 goals? What are you doing about it? Let us know.

To learn more about productivity, don't miss this interview where Andrew May talks to Robert Gerrish on the topic of sustaining high performance. Andrew's a keynote speaker at Flying Solo LIVE! on Wednesday 17 September.

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Until next week.

Love your work,

Peter Crocker is a director of Flying Solo responsible for the areas of marketing and advertising. He is a business copywriter specialising in websites, videos and marketing communications.

12 comments | Add your own 1 2 | Next» View all»

I try to spend the first hour of the day, the most productive hour working on my goals. I normally achieve this 3 out of 7 days! Heather Smith from SUNNY BRISBANE! | Read my articles
Oops - the book's out and doing well - gotta get the CD and DVD done ASAP! Grant Hyman from Sydney | Read my articles
Good article, Peter, food for thought. Thanks...
Must buy some post-it notes today. Adam from Sydney's Northern Beaches
Yep, I've achieved a good number of my goals this year and am pleased with that. I have them printed in full colour on the wall beside my computer monitor so they are in front of me daily. And one of the best I just got last week - I have been booked to speak at a conference in Canada in June 2009 - one of my goals was to get an international speaking engagement. So next January I'll be looking forward to the trip ahead of me! Kathie M. Thomas from Melbourne, Australia | Read my articles
Peter, this article was great, and so too is your strategy of the post-it notes. Reading your goals everyday does keep it right at the top of your mind. On this point, I once read an article which compared the habits of millionaires and billionaires - to see what set them apart. The only difference was the fact that the millionaires read their goals once a day, and the billionaires read their goals twice a day. I have a feeling that the billionaires had goals that read something like this: "Invent a yellow piece of paper that sticks conveniently on any surface and call it the post it note!" Lucinda Lions from Sydney, Australia | Read my articles
Definitely agree with almost all you have said. Except for the part about 158 days. Seems the year really IS going too fast for you - it's AUGUST 26, not july 26! :-)
Long term goal: buy more post-it notes. Dean Koorey from Kiama, NSW

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