Shed the word “busy” from your vocabulary to focus on the priorities that will have the greatest positive impact on your firm.
We’ve all heard it, said it, or felt it: busy. Whether it’s attending an industry organization event, on an internal conference call, or talking with clients, it seems like the leading question tends to be, “How are you?” which is quickly followed by the answer, “Good, but busy.”
This four letter word might be the most common and subjective word in our professional dictionary, because we overuse it and water it down without really considering the actions or tasks behind the “busyness.” In an article published by Fast Company, performative busyness is described as, “Work that isn’t necessary but is done to appear visible.” According to Merriam-Webster, “busy,” as we commonly use it, is described as either being engaged in action or full of activity.
With all of this in mind, what are we doing with our “busyness”? If this is all of our first responses to the question, “How are you?” then we should be able to clearly define what busy consists of. Unfortunately, many of us likely feel busy not because of the amount of items on the to-do list, but rather because of the lack of prioritization to tackle that to-do list.
Rather than searching for meaningless tasks to fill time or appear busy, what if we took advantage of those precious minutes or hours with the energy to tackle the most important problems we’re facing? In their book, Extreme Ownership, by retired Navy Seals and current leadership coaches Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, the authors describe a series of leadership lessons that translate from the battlefield to the boardroom. Willink and Babin emphasize one key idea, known as a Law of Combat, that applies in this situation, called “Prioritize and Execute,” which describes how to narrow your focus in order to be more efficient.
Here are five steps to take back your time and “Prioritize and Execute” the issues that will make the greatest positive impact on your firm’s trajectory – simple on the surface, but powerful in their ability to transform your daily productivity and focus:
- Identify the top priority. When thinking about being busy, we often think about the barrage of tasks we need to accomplish in a given day or week, but tend to leave it as a jumbled list rather than ranking each one by priority. When we start by identifying the top priority from our long list, we tackle what will move the needle the most.
- Clear and simple communication. Once you’ve started by writing down your to-do list, the next step is to communicate in a clear and succinct manner about anything you need from team members or clients in order to get your tasks completed. Unfortunately when we get busy, our first sacrifice tends to be effective communication. When we focus on clearly articulating what we need to be successful to those who need to know, we are more efficient and end up getting the help we’re often afraid to ask for up front.
- Execute with focus and discipline. This means tuning out the noise around you and working until you’ve either made significant progress or completed that task.
- Maintain situational awareness. Beware tunnel vision. Although it’s vital for leaders to have laser focus on the task at hand, you must also have keen situational awareness. When we lose sight of other aspects of our role or the firm, those areas begin to suffer. You should continue to focus on the top priority while also being available for questions from others in order for them to be equally successful. This is where the practice of “Delegate and Elevate” comes into play, which happens when we pass various important tasks to team members with capacity, which elevates their role and the overall value of the firm.
- Repeat and adapt. After we’ve addressed the top priority, we’re able to move on to the next issue and return to steps one through four. Challenges and curveballs will come your way as you go, so always remember to be flexible and adapt by adjusting your priorities based on what the greatest needs of the firm are at that time.
When you can easily identify productive action versus being busy for the sake of looking busy, you’ll be on track to creating a culture of focused productivity. This doesn’t happen overnight, but when you’re intentional in approaching your days and weeks in this way, it quickly becomes the norm.
Duncan Robertson, CPSM, is director of business development and marketing at Tamarack Grove Engineering. Contact him at duncan.robertson@tamarackgrove.com.