Always busy but no progress

It’s common in academia to feel perpetually busy; moving from meeting to meeting, overwhelmed by emails, and constantly responding to crises. But this kind of busyness doesn’t equate to making meaningful progress on the work that matters most. In fact, a busy calendar leaves little space for creative and meaningful work.

When we confuse being busy with being productive, we risk spending our time on shallow, reactive work rather than proactively investing time in the things that will make the biggest impact. True productivity doesn’t emerge from the volume of tasks we complete, but from establishing a steady rhythm of shipping meaningful work.

I also leave space on my calendar because I don’t like feeling busy. “Busy” is what you are when you’re hopping from meeting to meeting, sprinting through a filled calendar or running up against a deadline. None of that is conducive to following spontaneous creative ideas or working on large interesting projects. When I feel at my productive best, what I feel is momentum.

Lee, L. (2020). You Don’t Have to Be Busy to Be Prolific

Building momentum

Try these approaches to build and maintain positive momentum:

• Aim to get at least one significant thing done each day, even if it’s the only thing you accomplish.
• Protect blocks of focused time for important work, even if it means responding late to less critical things.
• When you step away from a task, leave a “trail” (like a few unfinished notes) to help you quickly pick back up mentally where you left off.
• Prioritise preserving your rhythm above cramming in more shallow tasks.

A packed schedule leaves little room for deeper thinking, creativity, and replenishment – all essential ingredients for anyone trying to produce impactful work. Reframing productivity around rhythm and momentum rather than simply being busy, creates the conditions to not just complete many tasks, but to consistently deliver on the things that matter most. 

Choose sustained progress over unsustainable busy-ness.