The Perils of “Busy Work”
Posted June 3rd, 2011
We all want to be busy at work. Of course, while we don’t want to be overwhelmed with work, there’s little that’s less frustrating than sitting around with not much to do. There’s the boredom factor, of course, but especially in today’s economy some workers may try to “look” busy in an effort to stave off the chance of being fired or laid off.
Yet we don’t really think too much about what “being busy” really means. We sometimes dive right into projects or tasks with taking the time to really think about why we do so. We may not communicate with others in a meaningful way and we also may not take necessary breaks from all the “busyness.”
If you’re someone who prides yourself on always being busy at work, you may not realize you’ve let this idea of the virtue of being busy at all costs to take over your work life.
To see if you’ve done so, ask yourself the following questions: Is your work moving your toward a particular goal, such as learning new skills, receiving a promotion or taking on more responsibility? Are you finding that you often try to look busier than you really are? Do you constantly check for e-mail or phone messages and do you feel uncomfortable if you don’t? When things do slow down, do you feel at odds? Do you ever feel guilty about taking time off for work or for taking a vacation?
What we all need to do is to take a look at our work and decide if it really is meaningful and challenging. If you find that most of your workday entails performing relatively meaningless tasks (such as checking e-mail), you’ll be able to make some changes.
One way to do this — to get yourself out of the “busyness” frame of mind — is to take a break from all things electronic for at least an hour a day. Instead, read, write or think about your work. You may not be able to eliminate all your “busyness” at once, but cutting back step-by-step can be a good idea. For example, if you find that you’re on the telephone two hours a day, see if you can reduce it to 90 minutes.
The goal is not to cut out the “busy work” completely, but to avoid those dead ends that keep you from getting done the real work that needs doing. You’ll find that you’ll become much more productive and accomplish a lot more when you reduce the amount of “busy work” in your work day.
If a new job is what you’re after, then your “real work” will entail contacting Bayside Solutions. We help hundreds of San Francisco-area job seekers find temporary and full-time employment with the Bay Area’s top employers. We look forward to hearing from you!
