Being Busy vs. Being Productive

Every time I see a tactic on a self help site that recommends doing something that I am already doing it makes me feel good.  Today's tip on Marc and Angels Blog:  Stop confusing ‘being busy’ with ‘being productive.’ – Start tracking and measuring your progress. Being busy and being productive are two very different things. Results are more important than the time it takes to achieve them.

Most days I do just this. I wake up with a list of things in my head that I want to accomplish for the day and then I do them and check them off as the are complete.  I do them by setting boundaries and not letting other people or minutea distract me from the tasks I want to accomplish. Most days this means I don't answer the phone at home. Phone interruptions are the biggest time waster in a day (and this goes for at work too but there I have to answer). We all know that some calls we get are welcome but others definately are not. We also keep a social calendar and try not to plan more than one social outing per weekend. We enjoy time just spent at home and not having to be "on" in social situations or running around in the car all weekend long.

This past Friday evening I got my to do list in my head.  I actually checked two of the items I wanted to do on the weekend off my list by doing them Friday night. This included slogging out the rabbit pens and bathing the dog. This left me extra time on Saturday and Sunday for the rest of my list which included leisure activities such seeing We Bought a Zoo and going to the Columbus Paper and Postcard Show.  Some people can be productive without a plan. I'm not one of them.

Below are two inexpensive cards I bought at the paper show:

In the first one the two men are holding a Bichon Frise (maybe a puppy by the likes of unruly crop of hair on it's head). The second one is a momma bunny and her kits. Any guess as to the breed?  I'm thinking Flemish Giant.