It’s an interesting question because most of us have been conditioned to believe that the busier we are the more productive we’ll be. We live in a world that prioritises quantity over quality – more is always better. The more hours you work the more valued you are as an employee, the more successful you’ll be, the more you’ll earn. Until we burn out. Then we’re not productive or valuable to anyone!
Busyness is fashionable, we wear busy like a badge of honour. It means we’re needed, valuable and productive. This attachment to busy has become a marker of our self-worth and we cling to it.
High achievers have this drive to do more or better, the need to prove ourselves. What ever we achieve, it’s never quite enough. We rush through life like its one big emergency trying to be all things to all people. Then when we burn out we feel guilty for letting people down. Sound familiar?
I was lucky enough to spend time in Bhutan, the kingdom famous for Gross National Happiness in place of GDP. On a hike in the beautiful Himalayan mountains I asked a much older but more nimble monk
“how far is it to the top?”
“it’s better to travel well than to arrive” he said ie slow down, enjoy the view.
Our societies attachment to busy means we no longer value the opposite of busy – we see down time as a waste of time. Do you feel selfish or guilty for taking time out for you? Even though it’s not just you that benefits from that time out. Imagine what a better partner, parent, worker, person you are when you’re not stressed out and tired? I know that everyone in my house benefits when I’ve had a good nights sleep!
It’s a concept I refer to as slowing down to speed up which I know sounds counter intuitive but bear with me! If we slow down, take time out, make time for self-care we find we become more effective and therefore speed up. Because tasks don’t take as long, decisions are easier to make and problems easier to solve, we can think clearly and we make less mistakes. This is the concept of slowing down that then enables us to speed up because we’re more effective.
Take the recent research into the 4 day week. Initially we thought there’s be a loss in productivity if we worked one day less – sounds logical right? What we find though is that we’re just as productive if not more in the shorter time because we’ve had down time, because we’re able to function at our best.
It’s this difference between busy and productive and they don’t mean the same thing. In fact the busier you are the chances are the less effective you’re going to be. We know that when we focus on one thing at a time one moment at a time we give it our full concentration and if we’re well rested, happy and healthy the quality of that concentration will be our best. Now compare that to trying to do a thousands things at once with the pressure and stress of diminishing hours in the day, you’re tied, the to do list is overflowing and you’re brain feels overwhelmed. What do you think the quality of that work you’re doing is like?
HBR reported a study that showed when we think we’re multitasking what the brain is actually doing is switching from one task to another in very quick succession, often micro seconds making it appear like we can multitask. But how good are those thoughts if we’re running so many of then through our brain in such quick succession? Could this be why we feel tired and overwhelmed so often and mental health issues continue to be on the rise?
Our glorification of busy and association between busy and success means that most people you ask at work about their day will tell you how busy they are – we think it means we’re productive. It means we’re not being as effective as we could be so don’t be busy, be productive. If you take time out and slow down what you’ll find is that you perform better and therefore are more effective and productive.