The Paradox of Being Busy, and What You Should be Instead
Hey Guys,
The world is becoming a busier and busier place. People rush more, work more and have much smaller attention spans.
Fun Fact: In the year 2000 our attention spans were averaged at 12 seconds. This has dropped down to 8 seconds in 2013 (it's still around 8 seconds now in 2015). To put this in perspective this is one second less than a goldfish.
Fun Fact #2: The average office worker checks their email inbox around 30 times an hour. Can you believe that!
So what has being busy turned into? People are so strung up about being busy that they try to fill every waking minute with some sort of activity. They're always multi-tasking, checking their phones, emails, facebook.. this list just goes on.
And you know what ends up happening? People become more busy and do more work without actually accomplishing more.
That's the paradox of being 'busy'.
So how do we fix this? How do we become actually productive?
I believe the famous Henry David Thoreau says it best - "It is not enough to be busy. The question is: what are we busy about?"
And there you have it.
You've got to be focused on ONE task.
You can't be checking your email or social media in the background. You can't be trying to do two things at once. Just focus on one thing at a time.
So when you start work in the morning write down 2-3 most important tasks for the day. Then start working on the first one. Don't check your email or twitter. Don't stop to do something small. Put earphones in so people don't interrupt you and just keep working at it.
If you get seriously stuck or frustrated take a few deep breathes, go for a quick 2 min walk around the office space and then move onto your next task. There's no point on getting hung up on one of your tasks but don't be switching tasks every 10 minutes either.
So do yourself a favor and get focused.
Thanks for reading my little rant
If you learned something new please give it a thanks or if you had any questions just write a comment!
Cheers, Zach.
The world is becoming a busier and busier place. People rush more, work more and have much smaller attention spans.
Fun Fact: In the year 2000 our attention spans were averaged at 12 seconds. This has dropped down to 8 seconds in 2013 (it's still around 8 seconds now in 2015). To put this in perspective this is one second less than a goldfish.
Fun Fact #2: The average office worker checks their email inbox around 30 times an hour. Can you believe that!
So what has being busy turned into? People are so strung up about being busy that they try to fill every waking minute with some sort of activity. They're always multi-tasking, checking their phones, emails, facebook.. this list just goes on.
And you know what ends up happening? People become more busy and do more work without actually accomplishing more.
That's the paradox of being 'busy'.
So how do we fix this? How do we become actually productive?
I believe the famous Henry David Thoreau says it best - "It is not enough to be busy. The question is: what are we busy about?"
And there you have it.
You've got to be focused on ONE task.
You can't be checking your email or social media in the background. You can't be trying to do two things at once. Just focus on one thing at a time.
So when you start work in the morning write down 2-3 most important tasks for the day. Then start working on the first one. Don't check your email or twitter. Don't stop to do something small. Put earphones in so people don't interrupt you and just keep working at it.
If you get seriously stuck or frustrated take a few deep breathes, go for a quick 2 min walk around the office space and then move onto your next task. There's no point on getting hung up on one of your tasks but don't be switching tasks every 10 minutes either.
So do yourself a favor and get focused.
Thanks for reading my little rant
If you learned something new please give it a thanks or if you had any questions just write a comment!Cheers, Zach.
Cheers, Laurence.
Writer/Editor/Proofreader.
With my degree in Psychology I've made sure it's packed with all sorts of strategies and studies for increasing human efficiency naturally. Stop getting distracted and Work Smarter, Not Harder.
With my degree in Psychology I've made sure it's packed with all sorts of strategies and studies for increasing human efficiency naturally. Stop getting distracted and Work Smarter, Not Harder.