How good of a multitasker are you?
“Multi-tasking is the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time.” — Someone wise
Busy doesn’t mean productive, and productive doesn’t mean success.
I used to pride myself on being a great multitasker. I liked being efficient and I got a lot of things done. More things came to me, and I finished those up too. I moved up. I asked for more. I delegated what I could and handed things in on time. I felt pretty good about that…
…until I stopped working for others and became my own boss.
I got nothing done in the first few months. I was busy. There were lots to learn, lots to test, lots to fix, and lots to do. But somehow as I learned, and tested, and fixed and did things, I wasn’t moving forward. I had no consistent sales, no real proof of concept, and no idea why things weren’t working. So I thought, must be because I’m doing something wrong. So, I went on to learn new things, tested, fixed, and … you guessed it, I got myself out of one vacuum, into another, and the silence was the same.
Productive Procrastination
The good thing about being busy is that it looks good. If you are busy, you must be doing something important. And sometimes you are. But other times, being busy is an excuse. We preoccupy our minds so we don’t have to face the truth, the difficult things (insert: health, family, relationships, mindset, dreams…) we need to prioritize to actually live the life that we want.
This works in the corporate world because not many people are truly held accountable for their actions. Bad managers still get promoted. “Face time” does result in a pay-premium. Seniority, connections, and politics can still reign over merit.
Effectiveness over Efficiency
So if you are your own boss, up your game. No one will promote you because you stay busy and think that’s progress. You are already the CEO! The only way is down if you don’t bring results. So don’t multitask. The CEO needs to focus. As the father of management eloquently said: “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
Do the right things. The right things for the CEO.
