Signs You Are Busy, But Not Productive
And what to do about it
My colleague was always busy. On her desk were piles of files and paper. She got along well with service providers and clients. Every day, there was one hanging around her desk, chatting, and following up on one thing or the other.
I knew I would find her responses to my emails when I got to work in the morning. They would have been sent at 6.30 pm the previous day, one and a half hours after I had left the office.
Watching her, I was amazed at the sheer amount of work she had to do.
At one point, I felt so guilty I asked if she needed help. Luckily, she said no. And I quickly realized how naive that was — asking if I could help.
She had worked in the company for two years before I joined. I had told myself the reason I did not have tons of work yet, was that I was a new employee. But I came to learn I had as much work as she did. But hers had piled up over the two years.
Now, thanks to that experience, I can tell apart a busy person and a productive one. I can sense too when I am in the deep of busyness.
Here are the signs to watch out for;
You are always putting out a fire.
One email goes unanswered, followed by one or two reminders. It then escalates to angry phone calls. You start running around to solve the problem. Then you take a break to cool off.
In the meantime, some clients have long known you don’t respond to emails. They come in person and wait by your desk as you process invoices or whatever work they need you to do.
Multiply that by 10. 10 unanswered emails=20 reminders, followed by ten angry phone calls. You are officially a firefighter — a crisis manager. Your workday comprises of sirens blaring from all sides.
Current work goes untouched. And the cycle continues.
You complain about how tired you are, but you can’t point out what you did or do.
You complain nonstop about the amount of work you do or have to do. But when asked what it is you do, you give no direct answer. You get exhausted, jogging on the spot.
When asked how you have been, you are quick to respond, “Busy.” Busy doing what?
Crickets.
If someone offers to assist, you struggle to point out a single thing for which you need help. There is too much to do, but nothing specific.
You fish for approval.
In addition to complaining, you want others to validate you. To tell you how hard you work. That is why you leave clues — like sending emails after hours. Someone is bound to exclaim, “Wow, you work so hard. You were in the office at 7 pm?”
You are condescending
The go-to defense mechanism for unproductive people is talking over another’s head. When put on the spot, they talk down to you.
They will use a big or technical word to throw you off. Or give a long-winded explanation to a simple inquiry — a tactic meant to make you feel silly for daring to ask such simple questions.
It makes the thought of raising concerns again an unpleasant one. And this allows them to continue looking busy while doing little.
If you find yourself using unnecessarily technical words, you most likely belong to the busy people club.
You love your job title more than you care about the work.
Unproductive people are afraid of being found out. They try to make themselves indispensable.
They protect their work territories and job titles with astonishing fierceness. They are reluctant to take days off. Leaving their work station means others will discover how little they do. If someone replaces them for a month, they might end up doing one year’s worth of their work.
Busyness can be spotted everywhere — not only in corporate work environments. A parent may be doing so much for their kids or family, but not for the love of it. They fear if they let the rest of the family members share in the work, they will lose their usefulness.
When our identity is too tied to the work we do, protecting it becomes more important than efficiency and productivity.
What to do
- Separate your identity from your work — focus on what you need to do and do it. Not how it defines you or makes you look.
- Prioritize current work. Set a time to respond to emails or task requests. Start with the most urgent, then most important — this reduces future crises. Do the rest after. Avoid creating a backlog.
- Speak out when you notice the work getting too much. Do not wait until too late to request help. Choosing to say something before drowning in work saves you and others a lot of trouble.
- Be humble. You are not indispensable. No one is. Cooperate. Be respectful. Answer questions politely. Goodwill is underrated. We all need it.
