You’re Just Unproductive
Tips to Be Productive Instead of Busy
“Sorry, I’m too busy.”
“Hey, I know you’re busy, but I was just hoping to…”
“If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”
The word busy has become completely normal.
There were four to six weeks during COVID when we were not busy and needed help figuring out what to do. Then we panicked, pivoted, took a breather, or did something else entirely. Now, so many of the lawyers I talk to are constantly busy.
For a long time, my response to that was, “That’s better than the alternative.”
But you know what? It’s not. I was wrong.
Why Being Busy Is a Problem
The Oxford English Dictionary defines busy as having a great deal to do.
Being consistently busy is one of the worst things you and your law firm can experience. I would honestly rather you have too little work than be perpetually busy.
Here’s why.
Being busy equals being stressed, and decades of research show that chronic stress is not good for you.
The CDC has found that hazard risk increases by twenty five percent for sixty hour work weeks and nearly forty percent for seventy hour weeks. You may not have a forklift accident at your law firm, but your version of that risk could be missing a calendaring deadline or blowing a statute of limitations.
Even studies that suggest busyness might have benefits come with serious caveats. Busyness increases distraction, hurts performance in other areas of life, damages memory, and can shorten lifespan.
But sure, stay busy.
Busy Is Not the Same as Successful
Years ago, I heard someone respond to “I’m busy” by saying, “I’m sorry. Hopefully one day you’ll be successful.”
That is a brutal thing to say, but there is some truth in it.
If you are busy, you cannot be more successful.
You do not have time to try new things, change how work gets done, pivot strategy, hire thoughtfully, build better systems, stay current on the law, or take quiet moments to think through real problems in your firm.
So let’s talk about what to do instead.
1. Apply the Pareto Principle
Vilfredo Pareto discovered that twenty percent of his pea plants produced eighty percent of his peas. Since then, the pattern shows up everywhere.
Twenty percent of clients create eighty percent of profits.
A different twenty percent create eighty percent of problems.
You wear twenty percent of your clothes eighty percent of the time.
So what do you do?
First, cut the worst parts.
Cut the small group of clients who create the most problems.
Reduce or eliminate work that produces the least profit.
Then apply this principle to your week.
Twenty percent of your effort creates eighty percent of your results. Focus there. Drop what is not working, not impactful, or not enjoyable. You can double down on what works and still work less for better results.
2. Delegate Ruthlessly
Jim Hacking once said, “If someone else can do it eighty percent as well, let them do it, and you can fix it twenty percent of the time.”
That idea changed how I think about delegation.
Even better, find people who can do tasks better than you. Or people who can do them consistently without supervision. That is elite delegation.
3. Systematize Everything You Can
Frederick Winslow Taylor is largely responsible for modern efficiency standards, even if no one remembers his name. He introduced measurement, standardization, and process into work that used to be chaotic.
You should do the same.
Here is a simple systemization process:
Record yourself doing the task.
Walk someone through the recording.
Have them do it a few times.
Give feedback and refine.
Have them document the process.
Store it in an SOP or handbook.
Revisit it periodically to improve it.
Start with the tasks that happen most often. Aim for eighty percent of your work to be systematized.
4. Automate Where Possible
Automation is systemization done by software instead of people.
If a computer can do it reliably, let it.
5. Work Less on Purpose
Parkinson’s Law says that work expands to fill the time available.
If you give yourself a week to do something, it takes a week. If you give yourself an hour, it takes an hour.
One of the easiest ways to leverage this is to work fewer days.
Many high level programs recommend taking one full day off each week. If you normally work five days and move to four, that is eighty percent of the time.
The benefits are huge.
You get more personal time.
Your team learns to solve problems without you.
You are forced to focus on what actually matters.
And if you only implement four out of five of these ideas, that is still most of the benefit.
Final Thoughts
Being busy is not a badge of honor. It is a warning sign.
The goal is not to do more. The goal is to do better.
Until then, do not collect seven million newsletters hoping to redeem them for a fighter jet.
That was a joke.
Please do not do that.
But you should absolutely watch Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? if you have two hours to spare.