Busy verses Productive

May 14, 2011 by Holly Ralston-Oyler

There is one thing you will always find in my office – a Franklin Covey Planner. Earlier posts have described the agony of defeat when I was without one.

I will never forget the Sunday afternoon 15+ years ago that I was strolling through the local Mall and happen upon a new store – which happen to be closed that day. FC retail stores do not open on Sundays. Great for their employees…not so much for the likes of me, a self proclaimed planner junkie. Oh the pain – of seeing three walls of planners and paper,  in every color and size imaginable and, not being able to get into the store.

Being the first customer through their door the next morning was a given and according to my husband, I  single handily kept the store in business for years to come. They finally closed a few years ago (hence, the agony of defeat story), much to my dismay. I even ended up working there part time, just for the fun of it. Great fun for me…not so much for my budget.

So, to say I am a time management junkie would be thinking very small. I’m not sure there is a rehab large enough to handle my problem. I’ll have to admit, I was born to the problem. My father was also a paper, planner person. In those days, the only “planner” was the standard red appointment book sold in stationary stores. It’s hard for me to fathom there was actually a world without planners.

Even with all my planners, software, PDA’s, phone and iPad I still manage to spend the majority of the day being busy, but not productive.  Welcome to my world of busy verses productive.  Procrastination is a horrible trait of mine and not one I am happy with. For years I have tried to find a way to break the cycle, but nothing has seemed to work.

There Is Power In Numbers

A couple of months ago I joined a group of like-minded women and men called The 30 Day Productivity Challenge. The friendships, creativity and support that have been created by this group is not measurable. Because of my involvement with 30DPC I have realigned my life, my priorities along with  my life and business goals.

For the rest of this month I will be talking about the 30DPCand how it has changed my life. I hope you will join in the conversation.