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We can feel very busy in our work days.  By the time we respond to whatever everyone else needs from us, we may or may not have produced anything for our core job. 

Think about it.

How much of what we do in a day is actually creating something and how much is reacting? 

The single biggest complaint that most of us have about our work lives is that there isn't enough time. And yet, while we can blame this challenge on co-workers, bosses, or clients, the reality is that we choose what we do in a day.  For sure there are expectations on us by others, but none of us can finish every single task that is expected of us. We choose how we invest our minutes.  And if time is a limited resource, then it is up to us to allocate our focus.

And most of us are really bad at it.

So, if we know we can't do everything, then what do we need to do to make sure we get the most important things done?   Here are 8 strategies for improving your ratio of busyness to actually creating:

1. Pick 3.  There is a story that when Charles Schwab became President of Bethlehem Steel in 1903, he made an unusual offer to his consultant, Ivy Lee:  "Show my staff and me a way to get more done in less time and I’ll pay you any fee within reason."  The next week, he paid Ivy Lee $25,000 for the following advice: Each night before you leave, make a list of the things you need to do the next day with the most important things at the top. The next day, start in order.  You may only get three things done that day, but it will be the right three. 

2. Portion your day.  There are different rhythms to reactive tasks and creative tasks--and it is easier to be productive when you don't mix the two. So, set aside time to respond to e-mails and be reactive to requests, but carve out portions of your day to actually create things--and during that time, don't let yourself get sucked into the other.  When it comes to actually creating things, Leo Babauta says, "Clear distractions, shut off the Internet, turn off notifications."  (In fact, Babauta only checks e-mail and social media at certain times during the day.)

3. Try Focus@Will.  This app (browser-based and phone) plays music designed to help your brain focus. The music is carefully selected to help you focus, reduce distractions and retain information when working, studying, writing and reading. The technology is based on hard science and proven to be extremely effective at extending your attention span.(In fact, I am using it as I write this post.) The music selection is varied...ambient, classical, cinematic--there is even an ADHD channel.  The service is free for the first 30 days--without having to supply your credit card information, and after that is a reasonable $5.99 a month. Check it out. 

4. Get better at meetings.  Meetings can be a major time sucker often covering things that could just as easily be handled with an e-mail.  And a dead giveaway that a meeting is poorly designed is when everyone in the meeting is simply checking their phones.  So how do you help sway a poorly organized meeting--if you aren't the one organizing it? a) Before attending, ask the organizer what your role will be in the meeting. If you don't have a clear reason to be there, don't go. b) If you are presenting information, send it out before the meeting to the attendees and let them know what decisions, input, feedback you need from them so there is no time wasted on information download. c) Never be late and leave your phone in your pocket. If surrounded by people who are violating this, start asking questions that create engagement.  "Crappy meetings" can become part of an organization's culture, but you can work to undo that.  And when you are the one scheduling a meeting? 30 minutes. Tops.  Approach it like a TED talk.  Figure out what the meeting is designed to do, what decisions it has to produce, then cut away everything from the agenda that isn't essential.

5. Get your team on a productivity platform.  There are so many great project management solutions out there.  My team uses Wrike. There are others like Nozbe and Trello, and of course, MS Outlook has robust capability.  While these work great personally, the real power comes in using them in teams.  With the ability to share tasks, or break projects into smaller pieces and communicate within the application, it is effective in making sure that everyone understands the workload and what their role is in making it happen.  Not only that, but as good as lists are, until you schedule something, it is almost impossible to make it happen. 

6. Play to the value metrics of your position. There is a reason they hired you, and there is a good chance you are doing a zillion different things in your day that have nothing to do with that.  If you want to go home at 5:30 to protect your home life, then you are going to be leaving stuff undone, but if you continually leave the stuff undone that your bosses care about then you will soon be out of a job.  Find out what your boss sees as valuable and do that.  How do you know? Ask.

7. Become a multiplier.  There is a great book called Multipliers by Liz Wiseman that contrasts leaders who inspire people to do their best work and those that suck the life out of people.  No matter where you are in the leadership chain if you become a multiplier then there is less for you to have to carry. It is worth learning the skill. 

8. Change your self-talk.  Brene Brown said that "we wear busyness like a badge of honor." Ouch.  How many of the tasks we engage in are more about our own egos than what is essential? [Full disclosure: I've learned recently for me, more than I wish.]  We have to stop saying we are busy and feeling like it makes us special. [It doesn't. Though it feels like it should.]  Our stress isn't about what we do or don't get done, it is about what we think about ourselves by what we do or don't get done. When we find ourselves so overloaded that we can no longer prioritize, then it is time to pull away and get some perspective.  Will some balls hit the floor? Probably.  But better that the balls drop than we do.