If bees and beavers could understand English, they would be insulted by our universal labeling of their behavior as “busy”.
Not because they aren’t busy (a honeybee can visit 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip and a beaver can fell 100+ trees during the construction of a dam or lodge). But because they are incredibly productive (a colony can produce 80+ pounds of surplus honey each year and a beaver will collect and store enough food to last an entire winter).
See, in the world of bees and beavers, the terms busy and productive are synonymous. Any flurry of activity has a defined purpose and yields a valuable product.
Not so for us humans.
For us the term simply denotes a high level of activity; but there is no correlation between being busy and producing something of value.
Case in point: I was extremely busy at work last week. I had to travel six hours to my employer’s corporate headquarters, attend numerous meetings, lead several conference calls, complete a myriad of forms and documents and reply to an assortment of email requests. Each night I returned to my hotel room mentally and physically tired.
Yet I produced little of significance. No remarkable idea. No insightful learning. No breakthough solution. Was the trip a waste? Not necessarily. But given the substantial effort, one could have expected more in return.
And that is the danger in equating “being busy” with “being productive.” You come to assume your flurry of activities and minor contributions are creating substantial value. Meanwhile, someone else (your customer, your boss, your spouse, your child, etc.) is wondering why your efforts aren’t producing more.
Recognize the difference. Don’t get busy. Get productive.
