(ThyBlackMan.com) Invariably, when I ask a person how their day unfolded or what they’ve been doing for the last few days, the answer is normally the same: “I’ve been busy”. Busy, though, seems to have morphed into a buzzword or catch-all for its opposite – if what the person’s intended outcome versus results can be trusted. The fact is “busy” is not always “productive” while productive will usually keep a person busy. Like most important things, it’s the results that matter.
There are activities we engage in daily that keep us productive – and moving forward – and there are also habits that keep us busy and, as a result are “productive-busting”. In other words, these activities do not add to our happiness, but only obstruct it.
Here are three habits that determine whether you are busy or productive and what to do about it.
Watching Television
According to StatisticBrain.Com, the average person will have spent nine years watching television over a lifetime. Staggering! That’s almost a decade of sitting in front of the one-eyed monster; a decade of dreams lost, goals pursued; a decade of books written, businesses launched; a decade that we can never recover. What’s even more disturbing is how our addiction to television filters into the psyche of our children: Statistic Brain also reports that children spend 1, 480 minutes per week in front of the tube. In our community, 1,480 minutes goes a long way toward reducing the achievement gap.
Fix:
This is not a new suggestion: Turn the tv off! Initiate a television fast. Or, limit the number of minutes you spend in front of the television. If nothing else, begin by muting the television and replace that time with something productive such as reading a book or journaling, taking a walk or joining a neighborhood improvement group.
Hanging Around Unproductive People
An old proverb reads, Show me your friends and I will show you who you are. Someone else said, We become what we think about. I’ll add this: We become who hang around. Birds of a feather really do hang together. If you hang around someone who’s unmotivated, uninspired and always complaining, you will likely become one with that person in mind and spirit. You know why negative people hang around the water cooler at work (or the cubicle or the break room or the smoking area)? So that they can attract and converse with likeminded negative people!
Fix:
Conduct an unscientific analysis of your five closest associates. What do they talk about most? Do they converse on their dreams or despairs? Do they gossip more than build? Look for positive skill-sets they may offer to a conversation with you. If they lack this, you may want to consider a more positive company of associates.
Surfing Social Media
Surfing social media is right up there with watching television in terms of productive-busting status. In fact, TheSocialSkinny.Com reports that up to a quarter of people have missed important moments because they were too busy trying to write about it on social media. Also, people also devote a quarter of their time on the Internet engaging in social networking.
“Important moments” form the basis of productive days. It’s the moments that count: watching a child at play, volunteering at a shelter or simply taking a long walk.
Fix:
The irony is that if we’d just spend a quarter of our time doing things that really matter – things that create the important moments – we’d live a much more fulfilling life.
Today, do something that really gives you a sense of belonging: take a grandchild to lunch. Write a business plan. Connect with someone in real time. As suggested about watching television, do a social media fast or cut back on the time you are actively online.
Monitoring our productive-busting habits will go a long way toward making the best of our time.
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitestrategiescoaching.com.
