Your Next Clear Move
Welcome to Your Next Clear Move™—the podcast for leaders, professionals, and high-capacity humans who are done “getting ready” and ready to move.
I’m Debbie Peterson, Leadership Readiness Expert, and in each episode I deliver grounded insight, clarity-driven mindset strategies, and one actionable step to help you stop the drift and lead yourself forward.
This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reconnecting to what matters—and making decisions that align with who you are and how you want to lead next.
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Your Next Clear Move
Busyness vs. Productivity: Why the Difference Matters in Leadership
Ever caught yourself writing down tasks you've already completed just for the satisfaction of crossing them off? You're not alone. The distinction between being busy and being productive is at the heart of effective leadership—yet so many of us confuse the two.
Toxic productivity—that relentless drive to do more, even when it drains your energy—has become a modern badge of honor. I've been there myself, running that internal marathon where the finish line was bragging rights about how much I'd accomplished. But a simple definition changed my perspective forever: productivity is knowing what actually needs to be done and getting it done—not everything, just the things that truly matter.
As leaders, we're particularly vulnerable to modeling busyness for our teams. When we refuse to delegate, try to fix everything ourselves, or feel we need to prove our worth through constant activity, we shape organizational culture in unhealthy ways. We reward people for looking busy rather than creating results, promote constant availability as a virtue, and measure worth by hours worked instead of outcomes achieved. When we chase everything, we're not defining what's important—we're leaving the door open for something else to decide our priorities.
The "Bucket List" tool I share in this episode offers a simple but powerful way to shift from busyness to true productivity. By dividing your to-do list into three equal buckets (A, B, and C), you're forced to make deliberate choices about what truly deserves your attention. The A bucket contains what moves the needle, B holds important but not critical tasks, and C encompasses everything else. This method reveals what you've been avoiding and where you've been misdirecting your energy.
Ready to trade busyness for impact? Take your current to-do list, apply the Bucket List method, and notice what it reveals about your priorities. Then extend this practice to your team to create alignment and build a culture where productivity trumps busyness. Your leadership—and your stress levels—will thank you for it.
Hey, hello and welcome back. I am Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and this is another episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast. This is the place where you come to get the tips, tools and techniques that you need to figure out your next clear move in your leadership, your business, your career, perhaps even your life. And today we are talking about busyness ooh, busyness versus productivity, and why the difference between the two is important and why it matters to you in your leadership. So stay tuned.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Getting to Clarity podcast, the place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life.
Speaker 2:Here's your host, debbie Peterson, of Getting to Clarity.
Speaker 1:Okay. So what are we even talking about here?
Speaker 1:Busyness versus productivity? Well, why it matters. You need to know the difference, and I want to start with a question have you ever heard of toxic productivity? I loved it when I learned about this, because it's a belief that constant action and busyness equal value and success. It's like an endless drive to do more, even when it drains your energy. It's a mindset strategy, and one you may not even know that you are running, and I know that because that was me one point in my life. I loved being busy. In fact, I wore it like a badge of honor. If you are in tune with this, I see you because I've been you and I still do.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's because it's a hard habit to break, I would say, and I would even write things down that I had already done, just so I could feel the satisfaction of crossing them off. It was almost like running an internal marathon where the finish line was bragging rights about how much I had accomplished. You know, on the outside, oh yeah, it looks impressive, but on the inside it's exhausting, and I remember listening to a podcast where one day they shared a definition that stopped me in my tracks Productivity, they said is knowing what actually needs to be done and getting it done. Not everything, just the things that truly matter. That definition changed how I thought about work, because, if I were honest, a lot of my business wasn't about impact. Sometimes it was avoiding the work that I didn't want to do but needed to do. Sometimes it was about chasing those easy wins that looked like I was being productive but I really wasn't, and often it was simply a way of validating my importance oh, how are you? Oh, I'm busy.
Speaker 1:Do you ever say that the problem with busyness is that it doesn't create power. It actually depletes it yours, because you're not putting your energy where it needs to go to move the needle. Busyness keeps you running in place, while true productivity moves you forward. So there's a trap that leaders fall into and they can be vulnerable when it comes to this busyness versus productivity trap, and many fall into the trap of modeling busyness for their teams. They refuse to give anything up, they want to be responsible for everything, they see themselves as the fixer, they hesitate to delegate, they're convinced they need to prove themselves by doing it all. But that is not leadership, it's overextension and it shapes your culture, your department, in very unhealthy ways, like rewarding people for looking busy instead of creating actual results. It is conveying that constant availability is something that you support. It is measuring worth by hours instead of outcomes, and it's passing down the idea that anytime you rest is a waste of time, and we absolutely need that. So, when leaders chase everything, they aren't defining what's most important, and that leaves the door open for someone else the loudest voice, the biggest crisis or the latest fire to decide what matters. So, while there are times where urgent circumstances take precedence, real leadership is about having the clarity to consistently choose what you focus on, to know what is important. It is not about falling victim to the frenzy. So, from activity to impact, I want to give you a bucket list tool that I created and here's how it goes. So, when you consider shifting from busyness to productivity, for me, it started when I realized not everything carries the same priority or weight, and that led me to create a tool I call the bucket list, and I use this for multiple things, and it's a simple tool, but it's very powerful and it can change the way you approach your day. So here's how it works Take your to-do list and divide it among three buckets.
Speaker 1:There's an A bucket. These are the tasks that are critical to your focus, whatever it is that you are trying to achieve. They move the needle toward what you are trying to accomplish, whether it's stepping into your next level of leadership, delivering a project, creating more harmony between your work life and your personal life. These are the things in the A bucket that are must-dos. They carry the greatest impact. The B bucket is the second bucket, and these are the items that are important, but they don't carry the same urgency or weight as the items that you put in an A bucket. They support your goals, but they aren't necessarily the drivers of your goals. So if you get to them in the B bucket, great, but they're not the deal breakers. And then there's the C bucket, the third bucket, and that's everything else. These are the tasks that might make you feel good to check off or cross off, but they don't actually move you closer to what matters most.
Speaker 1:So here is the key rule for all of this you must divide your list equally among all three buckets. So for all of you out there that want to make everything a priority and put it in the A bucket no, that's a recipe for stress and put it in the A bucket. No, that's a recipe for stress. So by dividing your list equally among all three buckets, that rule alone forces you to prioritize differently. It makes you stop and ask does this really belong in the A bucket, or is it just easier to check off? And because you have to distribute it equally, you've got to make choices about what goes in each of the buckets. Now, once you've filled all the buckets, then you can put them in a priority order, and that simple system gives you clarity on what deserves your focus right now. And here's the deal your A bucket might hold the things you've been avoiding because they feel heavy or difficult, and that is normal. It is also why this exercise is powerful it pulls your attention back to where it truly belongs.
Speaker 1:Now my whole goal is to help you think differently about yourself, about your potential, your leadership, about yourself, and so that requires some reflection. So I want to give you a reflection exercise. So this week, I want you to take your current to-do list this week's list, okay and I want you to put it through the bucket list tool, sort every single item into A, b or C equally and then ask yourself which item have I been avoiding? Okay, is there an A item that you've been avoiding, even though you know what matters most? What busy work is sitting in my C bucket that I keep giving too much of my time and energy and resources to? And the final question is how can I focus on my A bucket first, even if it's uncomfortable? And the answers will tell you a lot about where you're investing your energy and whether it is moving you forward or just keeping you spinning in circles.
Speaker 1:Now, what about your team?
Speaker 1:This isn't just a personal practice. Leaders can bring it into their team meetings too. So ask your team members to bucket list their own tasks and share what's in their A bucket. You're going to quickly see whether their focus lines up with the team's priorities or if they're caught in the trap of busyness, and then you can help them. It's a simple way to create awareness, to make sure that they're aligning their energy where it needs to be, and to build a team vibe, a culture where impact matters more than just busyness.
Speaker 1:Now, busyness is addictive because it feels good in the moment, right but the long-term implications are it keeps you stuck. Productivity, on the other hand, is about clarity, focus and impact, and, as a leader, you owe it to yourself and to your team to choose productivity over busyness. So, if you are ready to trade busyness for impact great, visit my website at wwwdebbypetersonspeakscom and check out the resources and programming that will help you and your team focus on what matters most. So until the next time, I am wishing you all the clarity that you deserve. Be good to yourself and bye-bye for now.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast with Debbie Peterson.
Speaker 1:If you enjoyed this show, please rate and recommend it on iTunes or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.
Speaker 2:To learn more about how you can bring Debbie and her transformational clarity leadership strategies to your organization, visit DebbiePetersonSpeakscom.
