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In today's world, it is so easy to be busy rather than being productive. That's because we have so many notifications, alerts, to-dos, things screaming for attention. Oftentimes, when we are not aware, we could simply spend an entire day just doing things, rushing from place to place, clearing item after item. But these may not be the most impactful things that move us towards our goals. So how can we focus on the impactful and make the most of our days? In this episode of The Personal Excellence Podcast, I share 6 tips to be productive, not busy Why you should not start your day with chat [1:25] How to separate communication between inner circle loved ones and others [4:50] Why I turn off alerts and notifications [8:21] How to deal with incoming emails, alerts that you need to respond to [10:59] Starting your day with a priority to-do list [12:44] Why you shouldn't beat yourself up when you go off task [14:49] Using batching to group similar tasks [17:07] How to create your 80/20 to-do list [20:32] Using a "Will do" list to defer incoming tasks [20:32] The importance of delegating [21:59] Why delegating was my Achilles heel in the past [22:42] 3 factors I used to determine when to delegate [25:05] 5 questions to ask yourself in a weekly/bi-weekly audit [29:16] Asking ourselves WHY, WHAT, and HOW as we live consciously [30:20] How to be Productive, Not Busy [Transcript] Celestine Chua: You're listening to The Personal Excellence Podcast, the show that's all about helping you be your best self and live your best life. I'm Celestine Chua, your host, and founder of PersonalExcellence.co. Let's get started! Hey everyone. That is Celes from PersonalExcellence.co. Welcome back to the podcast! Today I want to talk about productivity -- specifically how to be productive, not busy. I feel that in today's world, it is so easy to be busy rather than to be productive. That's because we have so many notifications, alerts, to-dos, things screaming for attention. Oftentimes, when we are not aware, when we are not conscious of it, we could simply spend an entire day just doing things, rushing from place to place, clearing item after item. But these things may not be the most impactful things that help us move towards our goals. So today I want to share some simple tips, six tips in fact, on what we can do to focus on being productive rather than being busy. 1) Don't start your day with chat My first tip is don't start your day with chat. It is very instinctual to want to open your chat application in the morning and see who messaged you. Thinking, What do I have in my chat inbox? What messages do I have? It feels exciting because you are getting messages from people, people you care about, or new people you just met. Also, it is sometimes like a little gift, like each message is a little gift and someone has a special message for you and you want to see what's that. So I totally understand that. But unless it is an off day where you are not working, for your work days, I recommend not starting your day with chat because it can easily derail your day into a series of chat exchanges where chat is your main focus, as opposed to what you need to get done. This is especially true if you are an entrepreneur, you control your day, you control your routine, or if you are a freelancer. It is very easy to have your entire day derailed because of chat or even because you are looking at your social media news feed. You know, the social media platforms today. I shared in a previous episode on FOMO, the fear of missing out, about how social media applications and platforms today are designed to get you to come back to the platform. When you start your day with chat and this may be a chat application or a chat tool built into a social media platform, you have already entered their arena where there are all these design elements designed to get you to come back to the website.