Busy Is Not the Same as Making Progress

There is a certain kind of busyness that comes with doing social impact work. There is always another email to answer, another proposal to write, another meeting to attend, another community to reach, and another opportunity to chase. Before long, being busy can start to feel like proof that the organisation is moving forward.

In the real sense activity and progress are not always the same thing. An organisation can host ten programmes and still struggle to solve the problem it exists to address. A team can have a full calendar and still lack the systems needed to grow. A founder can spend every waking hour working and still be moving in circles.

Sometimes, the most useful thing we can do is pause and ask a simple question:

What are we actually trying to move forward? Perhaps it's the number of people you're reaching, the quality of your programmes, your team's capacity, your financial sustainability, or the strength of your partnerships: whatever it is, knowing what matters makes it easier to recognise what doesn't.

This doesn't mean every task needs to produce an immediate result: some work takes time, some seeds need a season before they become visible, but every now and then, it is worth stepping away from the noise and checking whether the work on your calendar is taking you closer to the work that matters, because building impact isn't about doing the most.

It is about doing what matters, and doing it well.

A question for this week

What is one thing you are doing simply because you've always done it, and what would happen if you stopped? You might be surprised by the answer.