Busy work vs. working efficiently

Another weekend of sleeping in and making time for ourselves is gone, and with it goes the sense of "control" that we have over our schedules. Tomorrow we go back to the 9am-5pm routine, whether it be in an office environment or if it means racing around to check off dozens of errands from the to-do list or looking after children.

It begs the question: 

how much of the busy work that we do on a regular basis is actually worth doing?

For the large majority of the population going to work is absolutely necessary, so by no means do I advocate giving up your job to live your passion - that is the ideal goal, but let's be honest, it's unrealistic. For all of the wrong reasons we equate a heightened sense of stress with a feeling of productivity. We are wasting our time thinking that busyness is somehow beneficial to our jobs. The heightened sense of superiority at having a mile-long to-do list is a fallacy. There is a massive difference between working a lot and working efficiently.

Having a huge amount of work staring you in the face can be debilitating.

Instead we need to simplify our routines by breaking down the assignments we have in front of us. 

You can start with the following questions from LifeHealthPRO:

1. Do I need to do this? (If your answer is “no,” then delegate the task.)
2. Do I need to do this tomorrow? (If your answer is “no,” then remove it from your to-do list.)
3. Does this task add value to me or my organization? (If your answer is “no,” then question why you are doing it.)

Tomorrow when you begin an assignment give yourself a (reasonable) deadline so that you can PRIORITIZE what needs to get done right away. Adding ten more items to your to-do list is an exercise in futility. You can use that extra ten or fifteen minutes to call your spouse or best friend and ask him or her how the day is going. Doesn't that sound more rewarding?