Activity Masquerading As Accomplishment
DOES YOUR ACTIVITY MASQUERADE AS ACCOMPLISHMENT?
One characteristic of successful people is they are always striving to do better. Even when life is going well, and they are successful by most people’s standards, they realize that incremental improvement can make a tremendous difference in the level of their success.
One very clear example of this is Major League Baseball. The raw batting average in professional baseball is about .250. This means that the average baseball player gets a hit 2.5 times in every 10 at bats, or 25 times out of 100. The player with the best batting average in 2020 was New York Yankee
DJ LeMahieu, with an average of .364. So basically, he got one more hit every 10 trips to the plate than the average player.
How does “11 more hits per every 100 at bats” translate in dollars? While the average player earns $4.4 million per year in the MLB, LeMahieu’s salary is $12 million per year! Big difference! In fairness, there are other factors besides batting average that contribute to compensation in professional baseball. But I think it’s fair to say that LeMahieu’s incremental difference has contributed greatly to his success.
So, what does that mean for “regular” people like you and me? It means that, if we can find ways to make incremental improvements in our lives, then it will make a tremendous difference in our success, too. There are many ways to do this, but the one I want to discuss here is reducing or eliminating activity that “masquerades as accomplishment.”
Have you ever been exhausted at the end of the day because of everything you did that day but, if you examined those activities closely, you would conclude that few or none of them moved you closer to the achievement of your goals? I call that “activity masquerading as accomplishment.” It seems like we accomplished a lot, certainly based on how tired we feel. But what we were engaged in was “busywork”, rather than highly productive activity.
The activity is okay – it’s just not accomplishment. We feel good about having done them, and we’re exhausted after the long day. But oftentimes we haven’t really done anything productive.
High achievers invest more time than average achievers in activities that help them perform better, produce more, and move them closer to their desired outcomes, and they find ways to get the rest done – just not by them. They are laser-focused on what I call their “highest value activities.”
If you can identify your highest value activities, and focus more of your time and attention on those activities, your incremental improvement will make a tremendous difference in the level of your success – however you define it.
Below are two lists I created. Read through my list, and then create your own list of (1) highest value activities (“Accomplishment”), and activities that might seem like accomplishment, but aren’t moving you toward your goals (“Activity”).
| ACCOMPLISHMENT | ACTIVITY |
|---|---|
| Action directly resulting in the achievement of my goals. Results. | Everything else |
| Writing (book, articles, blog post, ad copy for product/program) | |
| Reading that is directly related to a skill I’m learning/improving (marketing, speaking, research for writing projects) | All other reading (newspapers, magazines, non-fiction books) |
| Listening to audio programs that are directly related to a skill I’m learning/improving | Listening to news, music |
| Creation of products/programs/ workshops | |
| Working out (cardio, strength training) | |
| Investing time with the people closest to me | |
| Meetings that help me create desired results (w/ my assistant, marketing team, support team) | Meetings with people I don’t know who are trying to sell me their product/services (not related to my goals/objectives) |
| Conversations with clients and prospects (coaching calls, coaching conversations – where we assess whether working together is a good fit) | Phone calls with people I don’t know who are trying to sell me their product/services (which is why I don’t take incoming phone calls – w/a few rare exceptions) |
| Email correspondence that moves me in the direction of my goals | Email responses to people I don’t know |
| Errands (bank, post office, office supply store, etc.) | |
One of the best books that addresses this topic is Work Less, Make More, by Jennifer White. Chapter 3 of that book – Harness the Power of Focus – is all about focusing on results that matter, and what to do with everything else (much of which must get done – just not by you).
To create the life you really want, begin today by examining your activities that masquerade as accomplishment, and reorient your life around your highest value activities. Be sure to send me a note, and share your “wins.”
