We’re a society which glorifies being busy. People humblebrag all the time how busy they are that they have had only 4 hours of sleep the night before. Sounds familiar? That’s because you might have done it yourself, maybe without even being truly aware of it.

It seems that the general consensus is that, if you are busy, then you are working and that you are getting things done.

The sad reality is that busy does not equate to getting things done. Busy can be anything from shuffling papers trying to decide which ones to tackle first to reading articles and blogs that may be related to your niche. At the end of the day, what do you have to show for it?

Nada. Nothing. Zilch.

So how do you actually get things done instead of draining your energy being merely busy?

Here are 3 simple things that you can do. If you’re a visual person, you might want to write the list down on a Post It or something like that and tack it in your cubicle as a constant reminder.

1. Understand how you work.

That is, discover your workflow. Not everyone does things the same way. I work at home, but I still have my own way of getting things done.

When I get up in the morning, I spend about an hour waking up – that involves about 2 cups of coffee and moving around to get my blood flowing. Once I sit down and open my laptop, then it’s work time.

How do I work? I need Google Calendar, where all my tasks for the day are laid out for me. This is the crucial part: I have the organize my day the night before so that I hit the ground running the next day.

If you’re too busy to get things done, maybe you first need to take the time to understand how you work best.

2. Kick out all the clutter.

There are so many tools to boost productivity, improve focus, and increase efficiency these days. While I do believe that they can help, I also think that there are so many that they tend to clutter your day instead of help you get things done.

Examine your tools. How many to-do lists do you have? How many apps do you have to keep track of time? How many tabs do you need open to work?

Maybe you have one too many.

What I suggest is to get rid of all the clutter. For example, as I mentioned earlier, I have Google Calendar to help me remember what I have to do, as well as the time I need to it. I also use Evernote for notes that don’t fit in my daily routine, but which I can use in the future (example: topics for posts).

3. Don’t waste too much time on reading about productivity.

That’s why this post has only 3 points. Why keep reading about productivity when you could actually be spending that time working on tasks that you are supposed to complete today?

What are you waiting for? Go. Work. Get things done.

By Kelly

September 22, 2014