There are a times when I am so busy, it feels like the work might never end. And yet, at the end of the day when I look back to say, what have I accomplished . . . it doesn’t seem like very much got done. Or maybe nothing at all, at least, nothing that I set out to do, things that I said were important for me to get done that day. I hadn’t really been productive, just busy.
Thankfully, that happens way less often these days.
But, it turns out, I’m not alone in that. In fact surveys have shown that even fortune 500 level company CEOs sometimes suffer from this same syndrome. It’s called Reactive Time Management Syndrome.
I bet you’ve experienced it too.
What Is Reactive Time Management
It looks something like this . . .
You get up and you have your day planned out, all the important things you want to get done. But, before you get started you stop to check your email. An important client has a question that needs an answer asap. So, you stop what you had planned to just shoot off a quick email to answer. While you’re typing your response a Facebook alert pops up, it’s someone asking to join your group. So as soon as you finish your email, you hop on over them to admit them, but they have some questions about the group, so you have a “quick” discussion with them. After all you don’t want to be rude, and they could become a client.
No sooner than you finish with them your phone starts ringing non-stop. You answer every time. Suddenly, you look up and it’s three o’clock in the afternoon. You’re left with your “to do” list untouched and the day almost gone.
Sound familar? [Read more…] about Are You Really Being Productive, Or Just Busy?