“Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy.” (Jim Rohn)

For a good chunk of my work life, I allowed movement to fake me out. As a youth pastor at a large church, my schedule was routinely packed. One day I remember calling my best friend, who was a lead pastor at another church, and bragging I had 28 out of 30 nights scheduled in a particular month. I was waiting for him to commend me on what a dedicated servant of God I was, when he shot back two simple words: “Stop sinning!” Not the answer I was looking for… but it was the answer I needed.

When I ask a pastor how he/she is doing, what do you think the #1 response is? “Doing great.” Nope. “Feeling blessed.” Not that one either. Here’s the most common reply: “I’m busy.” It’s almost a reflexive response. It seems busy-ness equals significance. And I often wonder: What has them so busy?

Busy doesn’t mean productive. Leaders don’t need more busy, they need more effectiveness. God won’t reward you for busy… He will reward you for being faithful to what He’s assigned you to do. And busy often competes with His real assignment for us. Busy tricks us into believing we’re making progress. It fakes us out.

So how do we avoid this deceptive trap? Here’s a couple of ideas:

Tap into our God-given destiny

In Psalm 139:13-16, David wrote: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb… all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (NIV). God wired you and me in-utero for a specific destiny. For a quest bigger than ourselves.  When we live life with destiny in mind, we’re more careful with precious resources such as time, money, and relationships. A strong sense of purpose helps us from being fooled by busy.

Destiny becomes a filter for making decisions about tasks you will and will not do. It keeps you on assignment. Destiny answers the questions: “Why am I here?” “Why am I doing what I’m doing?” “Am I working on the right things?” Busy opens the door for the urgent to drown out the important.

Let destiny dictate your calendar

Converge Coaching’s vision is 25,000 healthy leaders by 2025. My quarterly, weekly, and daily to-do lists move me toward that vision. Not everything on the to-do list gets us to 25,000 healthy leaders. But I do at least one thing every day that is destiny-specific. Success isn’t crossing everything off the list… it’s crossing the right things off the list.  Do you work on at least one thing every day that moves you toward your God-given destiny? Planning destiny-achieving activities into your calendar, and guarding them ferociously reduces your risk of getting faked out by busy.

So… are you getting faked out by busy? Is the percentage of time spent firefighting increasing or decreasing in your leadership life? Are you making measurable progress toward your destiny? Or are you mistaking movement for production?

I would love it if you would take a minute to share your thoughts with me on this subject—specifically—how do you avoid getting faked out by busy?