The Key to Being Driven by Outcomes Rather than Activities - By DeskDemon

Do you ever feel like you are just running in circles? It may seem like you are constantly falling behind, yet you never get everything done. This feeling not only can make you stressed out and depressed, but over time it becomes a serious impediment to your ability to work effectively. If you feel like this part or all of the time, you may be motivated more to work by your level of activity rather than the caliber and volumes of your outcomes. This is called being “activity driven” and it means that you do not feel like you are working unless you are in motion. It can be detrimental to your actual productivity because this type of mindset actually leads you to create more work for yourself because you feel like the busier you are, the more you are accomplishing.  

If you are activity driven, then you must take steps to change this mindset not only for your own peace of mind, but also for your professional benefit. Changing your outlook can be difficult, so start out easy. Make a daily timeline so that you can determine where you are spending most of your time, and what activities are actually contributing to a professional goal. For example, if you spend 4 hours a day on the phone, but a lot of that time is simply going over things with co-workers, then there may be a way to eliminate some of that phone time, such as setting up a daily email confirmation of schedules. This opens up hours of your day and also gets the process completed much more quickly.

Once you have a timeline, set down some firm outcomes. What are your goals – personal and professional? What are the things you must do for your employer? Then look at your timeline in light of these goals, and determine where you can change behaviors to achieve your desired outcomes more quickly.

This alteration in mindset will not happen overnight. In fact, there will still be times when you find yourself “making work.” When this happens, pull out your goal sheet. Determine what you can do at that very instant to get closer to a particular outcome. You will soon find that you have more time and less stress in your professional life.