46· Are You Productive Or Busy?
Podcast show notes
Ever feel like you’re juggling a million things and just can’t get ahead? This week, I’m talking about the nonstop busyness that so many of us face—work, family, commitments—and why it can leave us feeling overwhelmed and unproductive.
We often mistake being busy for being productive, but the truth is, we can get stuck in a cycle of ticking off tasks without really moving the needle.
I’m sharing a few hard-earned tips to help you slow down, focus on what truly matters, and stop the multitasking madness. From prioritising tasks to giving yourself permission to take a break, we’ll look at how to maintain your energy and sanity while staying productive.
Grab your list and let’s tackle this together!
Here are the highlights
(0:47) Busy Lives and Overwhelm
(2:47) Impact of Hormones and Mental Load
(4:15) Strategies for Staying Productive
(8:26) Delegation and Taking Breaks
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Welcome to Frustrated and Exhausted, the podcast for women in leadership, where I help you fulfill your ambitions without sacrificing your sanity or your resilience.
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Frustrated and Exhausted. This one is for all the women out there who like me are busy, busy, busy bees. We're busy at home, we're busy at work. We're busy, busy, busy all the time and it's quite hard going sometimes. So I've had a week this week where work has been hectic, both kind of clients future work, prepping for stuff that's coming up, podcast obviously. And I've also been taking my middle child to high schools to look around and trying to do that for next year, we've been, I had a PTA meeting on Monday night that was fun. So, you know there's, there's just always this list of stuff, both in work and out of work. And sometimes it feels like we are super productive, like I love a list, I love ticking stuff off a list and if I've ticked everything off my list that day, I feel like I've been productive. But I think that's part of the problem that we can have and it's part of what can often lead to overwhelm is that we can really equate busyness with productivity. And unfortunately for us that's not always the case. And the real problem is that when we're on that business treadmill, we're so deep in ticking those things off that list, one after the other after the other, that we're not always focused on the things that really matter. Sometimes we're kind of focusing on the things that are right in front of us, rather than lifting our gaze and looking ahead to the things coming down the track. Not always the case all the time of course, but it can, you can really get stuck in it, especially you know if you're working in busy teams and things are coming at you from all sides. And our ability to actually be productive, to really shift the needle and have impact, and I'm talking about in a work context here but it really applies anywhere. It really depends deeply on our ability to think, to find perspective, to problem solve, to strategize and to be able to communicate those thoughts and ideas to others. But again, that ability to do that thinking is going to depend on a lot of things. It can be really hard to find space to think when we are so busy and if we're not thinking and we're not really thinking things through and we don't have that mental calm at times, then it can really impair our ability to be genuinely productive. The mental load that we all carry, you know, think of those things that you're juggling every day.
The lists, the kids, the parents, the hormones, you know, whether we're talking about menopause, or whether we're talking about the time of the month, or whether we're talking about childbirth related hormones. You know, these things can really lead to exhaustion. They can bring on brain fog or spells where we feel kind of particularly emotional and that can make everything just feel a bit a bit wonky and difficult. And, you know, obviously juggling all of that stuff comes with mental and physical tiredness as well and that can really impair our ability to think. But obviously, women have been doing this for a long time and we get through somehow but sometimes at a real cost to ourselves, to our energy, to our careers and to the quality of our thinking dare I say at times, because we're just trying to do it all. We don't, very few women have the luxury of focusing only on their own needs and work.
So how in the middle of all of this do we remain productive? Not easy, I would suggest, but I've got a few ideas and things that I've tried and tested, things that have worked for me, things that I've seen work for clients. So I talked earlier about the fact that sometimes when we're feeling all of these hormones and juggling all of the things and we've got all of this going on in our brains all the time, you know, has Johnny got his PE kit today, or I haven't done the Tesco shop. You know, whatever it is, they affect our energy. Of course they do. And so we need to be realistic with ourselves about what days, what's achievable. We can't necessarily plan for this but that check in and being realistic about, is this a day where I'm feeling like I'm going to race through my list, or is this a day where actually I want to slow down and I've got the brain space to really think. I want to kind of slow it down. I want to kind of have some do some really deep, focused work, what is realistically achievable, and I appreciate that we don't always have control over our diaries and things and some of that will be dictated for us, but to the degree that's possible, what are you actually going to be able to do today? What feels achievable with where you're at personally?
The other thing, and you might want to shoot me for this one but it's been shown that we can't actually multitask even though we think we're multitasking, our brain is just flip flopping between all those million things in it. So when you're kind of thinking about how you're going to approach your work, don't say to yourself all right, I'll do this, this, this, this all at once because you won't be, you'll be doing little bits of one thing, lots of things at a time. So do one thing at a time. It might only be for 15 minutes or 10 minutes but just stop. Focus on that one thing. Close the other tabs in your head. Close them down and focus on the one thing. Because that will improve your ability to think and you'll be much more present when you're doing the thing, you're not going to be distracted by the other things. Just slow it down a little bit and focus on the one thing.
The next thing I kind of like to check in with as well and I think I've said before, I am a bit of a recovering perfectionist. So the other thing that's quite important for me is, when I'm looking at a piece of work, whatever that might be is what does success or completion look like with this thing? Like, at what point am I stopping? Does it need to be perfect, or is good enough, good enough? Because we can waste an awful lot of energy perfecting things that don't need to be perfect. So don't do that is what I'm suggesting. You know, think in advance you know, just pause. Look at what you've got on your plate. What does need that time and effort and that really deep work and that that energy and effort to be as good as you can make it? And what actually can you spend 20 minutes on and it's going to be good enough? And really think about the kind of comparative energy you're given to those things.
Of course, we all love a productivity hack and you've probably tried and tested a few for you, they are great. I love a bit of time blocking for deep work in particular, I like to know, it kind of calms me, frankly, to know that if I've got a big bit of work coming up, I've got that time blocked in my diary, I can see, I can physically see the space for it in my diary. I also love Eisenhower's matrix. If you don't know what that is, Google it, maybe you've come across it before but for me, that really, really works for prioritization and also I find it helps me think about what my priorities are versus the priorities of other people. You know, when I'm thinking about the different boxes to put things in in that matrix and I literally use a piece of paper and draw the matrix on it to do that and I find that really helpful if there's a lot going on.
Another one and I use this a lot with clients actually and I use it myself, especially when I'm feeling stuck. It's a great one with teams too, is to use the circles of influence, control and concern. And again, give them a Google if you've not come across them to really let me drop things that actually I don't have much influence over and really focus my effort and energy on the things that I can change and sometimes, if, again, if things are just being heaped on your plate, it can be quite easy to get out of sync with that. So I find that really helpful.
Or, you know if you're sitting there and thinking, oh my God, this to-do list is never gonna, never gonna end and you know I've done quite a lot of work with consultants and GP’s and people in the health sector, and wow that's a treadmill. And you know to the extent that people don't want to take holiday because they know what that inbox is going to look like when they come back. Delegation and things is always key here and also just letting some things go. Sometimes you can't do that but some things you can let go of if you choose to and I love doing a list of do, ditch, delegate, three columns on a bit of paper, all the stuff in front of you and you just sit and sort through, okay actually what do I just need to drop? What does need my time, attention, and only my time and attention and actually, what can other people do? What can I delegate or move sideways to somebody else who's better placed to actually do that work?
And finally, finally, there is nothing better for productivity and creativity than a rest. Now that rest might not be a spa day right now, maybe it is, if it is you enjoy it, but if it's all getting a bit much in the moment, step away, go for a walk, go for a run, whatever suits you to clear your head and reset, and don't feel guilty about doing that because you're actually going to be far more productive and there's plenty of evidence for this, far more productive if you step away and take a break and come back to it.
So just to quickly summarize that that is a total canter through. And obviously there's loads in this subject around productivity that we could look at, but I think how we feel affects our productivity and we tend to ignore that. Actually we will be much more productive if we can focus in on how we're feeling and choose to work in that way on that day. Not always possible. Diaries do tend to dictate sometimes, but where you can, give yourself permission to do the thing that you're actually going to feel like getting done that day because you'll do it much better and much faster than if you sit there and try and slog through something you really don't want to do. A deadline is of course a deadline, but, try and do that. Ditch the multitasking, doesn't work. Focus on the one thing. Be clear about what success means and don't waste effort on things that don't need it, that don't need to be perfect. Good enough is good enough.
Find tools or approaches to support you, you know you'll maybe have tried a few. I know there are loads of productivity apps out there as well that some people love. I've kind of never got past pen and paper to be perfectly honest on that but everyone is different. Try a few, find things that work for you and support you. And finally, take a break. If you need it, take a break. It might be 10 minutes, it might be half an hour, it might be a day, but if you need to step away recognize that and do it because you'll come back much, much more productive.
If you want help with any of that or if you kind of want some, a steer about some different productivity hacks that you could try, send me a message. Let's have a chat. I'd love to hear what works for you. Like if you've got something that has just changed your life in terms of being organized and being productive, tell me. I'd love to hear it. In the meantime, take care. Have a great week. Try and put some of the stuff that you're doing down for a bit and take a breather, and I will speak to you again next week.
Thanks for listening to this episode of Frustrated and Exhausted. Hit the follow button for future episodes. You can also follow me on Instagram at Resonate Leadership and LinkedIn at Ruth Alexandra Wood, I'd absolutely love to hear from you. Frustrated and Exhausted is brought to you by Resonate Leadership and the wonderful team at the Podcast Boutique. I'm your host, Ruth Wood, take care and speak to you soon you.
