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<\/p>\nHi, my name is Larry, and I'm an addict. I've been clean and sober for three years, two months, and eight days. My drug of choice was not alcohol, narcotics, or even nicotine. For decades, I was addicted to fake work.<\/p>\n
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I spent hours formatting spreadsheets. I immersed myself in fact finding excursions, spending huge chunks of time at bookstores and office supply centers, obsessing over a $50 purchase. I spent countless hours in conference rooms, discussing options. I filed reports with meticulous attention to detail, and I checked email constantly, even after business hours. Worse, I answered every message. I took lunch meetings most weekdays, even some weekends. I looked forward to returning to the office to hear, \u201cThere's someone here to see you.\u201d I was busy, far too busy, doing work that didn\u2019t need to be done.<\/p>\n
It all felt<\/em> so productive. But all this busyness squeezed my most important tasks, my real<\/em> work, into the margins. Despite all that activity, I was made little progress toward my goals. Yet like a true addict, I returned to my busy work time and again, even as it drained the productivity from me.<\/p>\n The change came when I went into business for myself. As a freelancer, I quickly realized the difference between fake work and real productivity. Real work is anything that advances the mission of your organization. In my case, that was prospecting for clients, negotiating contracts, and placing my butt in the chair to produce the product. Fake work is everything, and I do mean everything<\/em>, else.<\/p>\n In business terms, real work makes you money, and fake work costs you money. See the difference?<\/p>\n\t\t