I often get email from people who indicate they are working hard on their business, but not seeing any results. There can be many reasons for this, but frequently I find that the activity the person is focused on isn’t the type that makes money. Working at home isn’t about playing office. Developing filing systems and keeping the desk organized is all fine for knowing where to find stuff, but it doesn’t make money. Reading the latest articles in your niche can keep you up to date, but it won’t make money (unless of course you implement an idea you learn). Managing email is important, but again, in many cases, won’t make money.
Too many people are mistaking busyness for productivity and as a result, they aren’t seeing results even though they feel like they are working hard. While some busy activities are important (IE filing), they shouldn’t pre-empt more important activities that actually make money. How do you do that?
First you have to know what activities are making money. In most home businesses that activity will center largely around marketing tasks. Hopefully you’re tracking your marketing efforts and you know whether your articles pull more sales than paid advertising. Or whether your Twitter networking is expanding your sphere of influence. The activities that are generating traffic and sales are the ones you want to focus on … every day!
Next focus on activities that may not directly bring you money, but are part of keeping your business connected with others. This would include email and reading articles or books that have ideas you can translate into money-making activities.
Finally, leave all the filing, sorting and organizing to last. I know organizers are probably not happy with that statement. And I’m not saying that organization isn’t important. But being organized is about creating a system that makes it easy to spend the most time on your money-making activities. But if you’re moving papers from one side of the desk or another, or spending hours typing up labels for your files, its wasted income. In fact, you’re better of hiring help for these busy tasks. That way you’re organized AND you’re able to spend the majority of your time on money-producing activities.
So each day as you sit down to work on your business, remember to focus first on being productive (making money) not busy.
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Leslie Truex is the pajama-clad work-at-home mom dedicated to helping other moms live and work comfortably. She's the author of The Work-At-Home Success Bible and owner of 
Laurie Ayers is a WAHM from Michigan and a Star Director with 
I read a blog post recently about the difference between being efficient and being effective talking about this similar topic. On a smaller scale, it’s like, if you have something due in 3 hours, don’t spend 2 hours cleaning your room even though it does make you a little more productive. On a bigger scale, it’s about making the right decisions so you don’t waste time and resources on unimportant things.
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I used to be sooooo guilty about being busy but not productive. Like Parkinson’s law – Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. I used to think I was so productive, but at the end of the day I couldn’t tell you what I had accomplished. Now everyday I have specific tasks I HAVE to complete before I can get lost on the information highway and it works.
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