Slower and Simpler - Define Your Work

On a wonderful blog, Be More With Less, there are some interesting definitions of what entails "busy work" and the better option of "good work".  http://bemorewithless.com/busyness/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BeMoreWithLess+%28Be+More+with+Less%29:  (the whole blog is really worth reading, not just this entry)

Good work

• helping people
• exercising
• sharing good ideas
• creating
• learning
• shipping
• collaborating
• contributing
• connecting with the right people for you
• spending time with people you love

Busy work

• checking email every 5 minutes and first thing in the morning
• viewing other people’s vacation photos on Facebook
• attending meetings for things you don’t care about
• organizing your desk
• asking for more input because you are afraid that your work isn’t good enough
• sitting on the board because it looks good on your resume
• connecting with all the people
• weekly reports or call reports with the sole purpose of monitoring activity
• reactionary workflow
• spending time with people you don’t like

And even better are the comments on WHY:

Why busy work?

Busy work is what you do when you are afraid of your good work.
Busy work is what you do when you are bored with your good work.
Busy work is what you do when you don’t know what your good work is.

This really, really hit home for me.  And I realize that when I choose my "good work", I feel happy and productive.  When I do "busy work", I feel frustrated and grumpy, even though I'm just as "busy".  Even being self-employed, this rings so true.

Just some thought provoking insights for the week!