Being busy is "busy-ness"! But is it helping your "business" to progress? It is not enough just to do something. What is important is progress, moving forward... with achievements... even if the achievements are small. So just activity is not enough, every activity must have a purpose. It should take you ahead in life!
This is the difference between activity and progress. Progress is about activity with achievements. Let us understand this better. Activity without progress is what happens if you do things mechanically, maybe just because other people are doing it. Or that it has become a habit. But you must have goals in life, and every activity must take you forward and make you progress towards your goals. Your goals may be different from other people's goals. Don't do things without thinking or just because others are doing it.
There is a certain type of caterpillar, called a processionary caterpillar and the unique thing about this caterpillar is that if you put one behind the other, they just follow each other in a procession in one line.
There was an experiment done once, where a scientist put these processionary caterpillars in a circle one behind the other and they keep going round and round in a circle. The scientist carried forward this experiment and he put the food of the caterpillars in the centre of the circle, but yet, the caterpillars were so busy going round and round, that they ignored the food, and died of starvation!
Sometimes, we are so busy doing what we are doing that we don’t realize that we are getting nowhere and the time is just ticking and being wasted. You must ask yourself "Is what I am doing just an activity or is my activity leading me somewhere? Is there progress towards my goals? Where is the goal? What is the goal?"
Also, reflect on where your goals are coming from. Is it just the same goals that someone else also has, and are you comparing yourself to those people, and that’s why you have those goals? Are your goals aligned with your values, vision and passion? It is important to take a little bit of time to think of these questions and make sure that every activity we do, helps us to move forward towards our goals. The answers to these questions may be different for different people. Pause, and find your own answers.
So, don’t just be busy with activities, focus your time on activities that help you to progress. The progress could be small or big, as long as it is taking you forward towards the accomplishment of your goals. Focus on using your time on activities that help you to grow, to learn and to progress.
Ask yourself at the end of each day, "What did I achieve today? What did I learn today?" And plan your activities accordingly for tomorrow. Write it down. Make a list. All successful people plan on paper. This is a great way to progress every day and also to track your progress.
Every time you achieve something small, you will feel happy! You can even pause to celebrate small wins. It will give you the energy to work towards your next achievement. This is progress!
Another very powerful question to ask yourself is, " What is the best use of my time right now?" And you will automatically know if you are wasting your time or actually doing something that will help you to progress towards your goals.
There is a powerful saying, " If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to get what you have always got!" If you want a better result then you have to work in a better way. Not in the same way.
Have you ever observed an ant? If you notice how an ant moves forward, whenever there is an obstacle that an ant encounters, it changes its course and finds another way. So if you put a pen in front of an ant, it goes around and finds a new way. Let's learn from the ant!
I'm sure you have heard the saying, "Try try again until you succeed." While this is good, the lesson we should learn from the ant is that if there is an obstacle, we should not try in the same way... because then there is no progress. Find another way, until you succeed. So the saying should be, "Try try again, but in different ways, if the old way does not work until you succeed." There must be learning and progress in every activity.
Achievements are not always certain. But when you learn from every result, that learning is an accomplishment by itself which is also progress. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is not that successful people do not make mistakes. It is that successful people learn from their mistakes and don't make the same mistakes again! This learning and adapting is progress.
So make new mistakes, reflect on and learn from every experience, use your time productively towards goals that are meaningful to you, and enjoy your journey of progress.