Busy Does Not Build, Only Focus Does

Hello Family, I am Devine from Nigeria and for quite a while now I got what I say synced or introduced to the beauty podcast community and thus far my life has been better. I wake up every morning with this joy in my heart to want to hear and see what Boussy is talking about today for me, you know, I'm just always eager to see something, to hear something, I actually started a podcast from the day one and like from the beginning since I have not been following and thus far my life has been growing great. I look forward to sharing more testimonies and yeah, keep doing the good work sir. I am really, really glad you took out time for this. God bless you. Hello Family, good morning Boussy. I just want to say my appreciation for the work you've done over the years. I've been doing digging and I've been following you for quite some time now. I dug through your archive to about nine years ago when you appeared on SAPC news and all the news stations talking about entrepreneurship. I'm more or less at that age that you were when you did all those interviews on TV. I'm at 32 now, I've been working about 10 years in my field and yeah, the ball has finally hit me so hard that I'm in business. So yeah, all motivated by you from your simple podcast of ideas that matters and the valuable conversations you've been having as of recent on stage and also with other fellow entrepreneurs not just in South Africa but within the African continent and also abroad in the States. And yeah man, stay blessed, keep doing what you are doing. I know some people think it's all about the money at the end of the day but the motivation and the people that get motivated by what you do is priceless, I mean I would say it's more valuable than the richest man at the moment in the world. So thank you very much, you're truly a great example of what business should be and how you run your life and all your efforts for not just for this continent but for the world. Thank you very very much and just know that you've been a big part of pushing me to the point where I am now and yesterday is still long and still young and you know there's going to be a lot of months at the end of the paycheck left but yeah that's just the nature of business it's about keep on compounding, compounding, compounding all their efforts and eventually it will pay off so thank you very very much. Stay blessed in what you do and hopefully one day, well not hopefully, definitely one day I'll get to meet you in person. Thank you Vousy. Hello family, welcome to the VT podcast ideas that matter. Thank you so much Vousy for transforming our lives, I've just listened to the podcast that you did about the power of common language, I was just laughing because you know there are so many things that have found to be so common in terms of the ways that we use you know. My name is Isaac, I'm from Zambia so you know the way it is here in Zambia, for me and my business partner we come from the same region of the country so there is an earlier one when we started in business we used to tell a lot of stories you know there's a certain story that I heard from Strive Masiyua when he was teaching about you know the buffalo hunter so he told the story of a buffalo hunter who went to you know do some hunting in the Lower Zambia. Then from that story we learnt quite a number of lessons so we would always talk about it with my partner to say for me I'm a buffalo hunter I don't want to go out there looking for some rabid hunts because I know when I hunt a buffalo I'm going to feed my family for a very long time so that was like our approach in business like we want to go and hunt some big deals so that when we win the deals we could you know push some business like that. So there are certain you know common language that we use around this country we call each other bossano we call each other malume we you know for so particularly with my partner after that story that we learned we used to call each other buffalo hunter of which it's a name that has remained ever since they call me buffalo hunter now because I'm interested in big deals you know yeah so just recently there's a certain you know phrase that we use from a language we call each other you know like go and hunt for yourself without any supervision so when you go out there you're doing your hunting you don't have to wait for someone to come and supervise you because you are called you are more like a free molecule you understand so this podcast has resonated with me so well such that I can recall so many lessons that I've drawn from the past up to now and we understand how we relate with other stuff at the office and how we do certain things and from the same common language there's a lot of culture that that we that that comes from the same so I really appreciate you for see thank you so much sign our it's time to take your seat at the table find out how with voce tembe guayo as we discuss ideas that matter a catalyst for bold action hello family hello family hello family and welcome to this another episode of the VT podcast and here as we always do we're going to talk today about these ideas that matter listen I know it's been so long since last we spoke hasn't it it's been way way way too long and I just want to say up front I do see all of the messages across all of the social media the Instagrams the Facebooks the Twitter's while you can tell I'm an old soul calling it Twitter but that the ex the LinkedIn all of them that start with hello family and then they're going to say when is the new episode coming out of the audio version of the podcast so it's so great to connect again friends it's great to be with you here again to chat to you again to connect again to share ideas again because here on this podcast we always talk about these ideas that matter that voice note came from Isaac motorbwanji Isaac I think it's motorbwanji who joins us all the way from Zambia and he spoke a beautiful message there about how important it is for us to hunt for the buffalo hunt for the buffalo which actually is perfect and it's right on theme with what I want to share with you guys here today I've been working for a little bit behind the scenes getting a couple of things ready we're launching a new firm which I'm very very excited about in fact family congratulate me because we're actually launching two firms true story true story I've actually got a lot of things on the go to quite major things on the go and very very excited there's an evolution that is taking place in terms of our investment business of course for those of you who are new to the podcast and don't know that is what it is that I do that is my forte we built over the past decade or so quite a track record in the venture investment space and we like to think we've done really really really really well we've of course always always built a beautiful brand the my growth fund brand and as you guys know my growth fund was and continues to be a sponsor of this podcast but we've evolved since then we're doing a couple of really really exciting things things which in time I'm going to be launching and you guys will find out about I promise you as soon as they're ready so we're doing something an evolution of our investment business which which you'll find right and ready and for those of you who want to sneak peek of what it is we're doing I did a podcast recently when I was in Nigeria on business with have since become what I'd like to think of very good friends of mine Chika and her husband a chair and they run a podcast called the aphropolitain and if you go and listen to that podcast I give away a little bit of what we have been working on in the evolution of our business and the evolution of our firm so that's on that end of the of the of the spectrum but we're also launching a very interesting new business that is going to be building across all of the brands that we have and in fact what we're doing is we're taking the competencies we have developed over the past decade or so building brands and new and alternative media and we're launching those podcast those competencies for clients to actually buy from us so basically taking the agency that we have built internally to service not only the VT brand but across all of the brands that I either own operate to have an interest in and we're now offering those to the general public in particular we're going after businesses that we're going to be targeting with this so very very very very exciting times ahead it is in large part owing to part of the reason why I've been so quiet in addition to this there have been some movements that have been happening at the back end of the podcast we've had very exciting discussions with partners and potential collaborators we're looking at launching a new platform we're looking at the evolution of the podcast the podcast space has just moved so much isn't it like it's really really moved quite a lot and I think we have we have a lot to be thankful for so listen I say all of this to say hello family hello family and welcome to another ideas that met our podcast and here we do today as we always have talk about these ideas that matters today I want to talk to you about how busy doesn't build only focus does so our discussion today is going to be our episode title which is busy doesn't build only focus does the idea here is that many of us think being busy mean we're actually doing well some people wear busyness like a badge full calendars endless meetings a to-do list that's either put into your tray into your Trello or your slack or sitting on your notes or your Monday dot com or any other system that you might be using to tell you just how busy you are you have a full-on to-do list that needs its own PA to manage and because we're busy we think we're making progress but here's what I've learned friends activity is not progress busy is busy progress is progress and if you confuse the two you will live your entire life exhausted but unfulfilled I love that word by the way fulfilled every time I hear it I think of that Nigerian athlete I think he was running a competition it wasn't the Olympics I don't think it was but I think it was one of the diamond league competitions and he he wins the this particular marathon and at the end I think around 800 meters of the thousand five hundred meters and the interviewer the sportscaster goes to an assistant how do you feel he says I feel happy I feel grateful I feel fulfilled I'm happy because I never expected it but God gave it to me and I'm grateful to him I love by the way I should tell you guys I actually have that video saved on my phone as one of my favorites and every time something great happens and you know like it's how they get shared in the media or we're celebrating it internally in the office I'll send a message on either the office the team WhatsApp group or the company slack and I'll say I feel happy I feel grateful I feel fulfilled so I don't know whoever that athlete is but please tell them about big big fan so the point I want to get to here is it's really important to recognize that being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're making progress so the first thing with them we need to do is to dispel the lie of constant activity dispel that lie let's start with a simple question just think about the past seven days were you busy I'm willing to venture a guess the answer is yes now then given that you are busy did you move things forward have you moved forward what actually changed the trajectory what made your business better for the entrepreneurs watching this what made you better see most people can't answer those questions because business has become a drug it's a socially accepted addiction and it numbs you or distracts you but worse it gives you this just enough dopamine that you feel productive even when you're standing at exactly the same place the beauty here is you need to realize something that hit me personally very very hard activity can trick you like that it can trick you into thinking because you're busy you're being productive over the past month or so I have traveled I want to say five different countries speaking in each of those five different countries I've had meetings with one head of state and two people who are heads of who are who are kings in their in their particular tribes in different countries at the same time I have had several presentations to potential investors into our next fund we finalize the fund structure we're busy with the licensing the registration of the offshore stuff finalize the final edit on my next book busy with the signing of the contracts launched two apps which will be available in stores part of our school of scale platform change the team in my school of scale team change the management team change the product and go to market strategy change a little bit of our branding and go to market strategy change the pricing submitted several proposals for different development finance partners in the world that we're going to be working with them by the way I'm not reading the software list these are just the things that I can think about and you know what in that same time I managed to go and attend my son's first soccer training session I missed just by a day my daughter's regalia where she was not regalia rather regatta where she was rowing but I but I just missed it because I get my flights were late and delayed on time been very present at home been very present in my family life very very happy my garden at home looks fantastic my pool is clean and I still get to spend the weekends that I'm at home watching TV and spending time with my family so much so that about two weekends ago we sat as a family and watched an omnibus quite literally of James Bond movies because they couldn't understand why I'm such a James Bond fan so every single thing that I've spoken to you about that we've achieved has been done with everything else in my life still taking place because I think I've come upon this there is a difference between activity and progress there is a difference between busy and motion and you have to be clear about which of these you are actually embarking in see activity can trick you and it does because activity feels like productivity it feels like momentum it feels like importance right and we all want to feel important but here's the thing feelings aren't facts movement is not just direction it's energy and energy requires clarity and effectiveness Carl Newport in his book deep work which by the way I highly recommend proves what we that he proves this that what most of us label as work is actually just shallow activity it's tasks that keep us occupied but don't meaningfully change the outcome he found that professionals spend 60% of their day responding to external triggers messages emails calls not actually doing meaningful work so imagine a pilot flying a plane based on how busy the cockpit feels he'd crash he'd crash every single time he flies a plane because he has a flight plan and he looks at the cockpit to help him analyze the environment he's in and the performance of the plane in other words the cockpit helps him make decisions the cockpit doesn't give him work to do get most of us run our careers our businesses our dreams exactly like that like the pilot who'd be responding to the cockpit every time so the first point to make them is quite simply this constantly being active is just a lie to feel busy second stillness is a strategy and I challenge you to find a moment to be still so get still get clear once you're still and you're clear then you can move see when I first read Carl's work it reminded me of something that we often speak about two executives that strategic clarity is the ultimate accelerant strategic clarity is the ultimate accelerant what does that mean well let me break it down for you stillness is not laziness stillness is not avoidance stillness is not even passivity stillness is strategy it is the ability to pause long enough to think to see to discern to question and to align those of us who are in the scripture would say be still and to know peace be still because you can only manage through the storms when you have a sense of stillness stillness is a prerequisite for the clarity to see what's important and what's not so most people don't actually feel hard work what they fear is clarity because clarity comes with accountability once you're clear you're accountable once you're accountable you can't lie to yourself when you're clear about your purpose clear about the people you serve clear about what actually matters you no longer have the luxury of hiding behind being busy now you need to execute you need to deliver and as I said to one of my team members the other day you need to rise to the level of your intentions and that's not about being comfortable that's about clarity and choosing clarity over noise so the second point to make is that stillness is strategy the third point to make there are actually frameworks you can use to cut through the noise right my personal favorite is the okr framework now very well spoken about very well known it was actually designed by a man called Andrew Grove who wrote this incredible book called how the paranoid survive it's one of the books in my business life that absolutely changed my business career circa 1314 years ago when I first read the book and Andy Grove was the former CEO of Intel he he he wrote about this okr framework and then it was championed right by Google through a fellow called John doer and the site here of okr's focuses on outcomes key results and objectives it forces you to answer the most important question in your work and your life what does success look like and what does it look like specifically an okr is your is your compass and if your okr is your compass it means the objection the objective rather is your direction the key result is the evidence that you're moving forward keyword there evidence not a feeling not an interpretation evidence if your calendar is full but your key results aren't moving you're not you're you're busy but you're not being productive so why do you billion dollar company CEOs use okr it's because they want to eliminate the biggest thief of progress the biggest thief of progress it's what I call vague effort it's the idea that just because I'm I'm moving my muscles I must therefore be moving the object so try the okr framework and if the okr framework is difficult as it often is for people who are new to productivity tools then try the Eisenhower matrix I've long spoken about the Eisenhower matrix one of my videos that went most viral on YouTube was the Eisenhower matrix this was made famous by president Dwight D. Eisenhower it was popularized of course by Stephen Covey in his book the seven habits of highly effective people read that book when I was circa 16 17 years old in 2002 that was the first like serious business book I read and it set me on a path that would would would really submit my understanding of business and how business work that tool is simple but it is brutal because it forces you to organize every single task into one of four categories what is important and what is urgent that which is important and urgent what is important but not urgent what is not urgent but important what is not important not urgent see most people spend their lives in three categories the one that are and and and all of those three categories I should tell you most people spend their lives actually in category three which is the way things are urgent but none of those things are important why because urgency shouts it demands your attention it creates emotional pressure urgency will keep you up at night urgency will ruin your weekend urgency is that little voice that screams at the back of your mind have you ever tried to take time out and you can't because there is something that you know you need to do that you haven't done yet that is what urgency will do but the greatest progress friends the life changing business transforming work that's category two things that are important but not yet urgent that's often where strategy lives that's where innovation lives that's where mastery lives so the takeaway for you here is that urgency shots importance whispers and the wise amongst us know to listen to the whisper lastly alignment is important if you want to accelerate your growth and your development in fact I often say to my own team alignment is the real accelerator so let's bring this home you can't build an exceptional life based on tasks you can only build it based on alignment the reason I shared with you the things I do the things I'm about the things I've been working on is because I've taken a moment to take a step back out of the limelight so that I can align my life for the things that matter for me when your work aligns with your purpose you become powerful when your effort aligns with your intention you become effective when your calendar aligns with your priorities friends family you become unstoppable business doesn't produce exhaustion business is exhaustion but alignment produces elevation busy people run out of time focus people run ahead of time busy people get lost in the noise focus people celebrate the narrative in fact they shape it business people will celebrate activities focus people celebrate outcomes so the next time your calendar is full ask yourself is this motion or is this momentum is this busy or is this purpose and if the answer scares you that's good it means that you're waking up so here's what I want you to take away from this get still get clear and then move that's it friends that's our podcast for the week of course brought to you as always by my growth fund venture partners and 154 capital partners together with our partners at Sound and Sounds at the studio in Johannesburg I am Vussi Temuguayo signing out sayonara. you . you . . . 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