The Focus Course

How to tell you’re busy doing Busywork

1. The work you’re doing doesn’t feel rewarding. Sure, you’re getting things done…but what is it all adding up to? You’re creating activity, but it’s not compounding into anything substantial or creating momentum.

2. You’re unsure of where to direct your focus. If you waved a magic wand that suddenly removed all busywork from your plate, would you know what to do with your time? Busywork is easy to fall back on when you lack clarity on how to make meaningful progress toward your goals.

3. When your plate is full of busywork, you can put in a solid day of work and still walk away feeling like the day was a complete waste.

4. You know there are better things you could be spending your time on… but dropping or delegating the monotonous day-to-day tasks demanding your attention feels impossible.

How to Free Yourself from Busywork

To determine what’s important and give yourself space to focus on it, use the following 4 steps.

I typically start this process at the beginning of the week, but feel free to jump in immediately if you don’t want to wait for Sunday or Monday:

1. Write down everything you need and want to get done this week. From the bigger projects all the way down to the smaller tasks.

2. Look over your “master list” and select the 3 most important things that you will actually focus on. This is how you will define success for your week.

3. Bonus: For each of those 3 most important things, write a few words about WHY that task or project matters. What is your motivation and reasoning for wanting to get it done? (This will help you follow through later on in the week when you’re not feeling it.)

4. Lastly, look at your calendar for the week and schedule the various blocks of time that you will spend working on your 3 most important things. Or at least select the day(s) of the week that you will focus on each thing.

Clarity Is the Goal

Most folks will continue to default to busywork when they’re not sure what to focus on.

The simple 4-step process above will help you stay focused on the actual, important work that matters (instead of diving into your inbox, checking Slack, or giving in to other distractions that clamor for your attention).