Busy has become the new “it” word. Talk to anyone now, and the first thing they’ll say is how busy they are, as if it’s a badge of honor we’re competing for. But should busy be the goal? Who cares if you do more in a day than anyone else on your team if those tasks don’t produce exceptional results?

The only way to thrive in a market like this is to help our teams turn busy into productive. Follow these strategies to gain a clear understanding of what the best use of their time is, and to learn to put their energy and talent toward tasks that improve production.

1. Know What Produces Results. Running a business. Building a pipeline. Leading a team. Satisfying customers. There are several roles you play to make your job happen, but some tasks have a bigger impact on our progress than others. Your job is to know the difference. You need to be clear on the goals that must be reached for the coming year and how best to achieve them. Is it better for a CEO to make a sales call or develop personnel? Should sales professionals call on customers or fill out paperwork? Is it better for a surgeon to perform surgery or check blood pressure? You get the drill. Now look at your own role and determine how to use your time and energy.

2. Set Priorities. Just because we know what’s most important doesn’t mean we do it, right? We know we should eat healthy and exercise, yet we don’t always do it. If you want to turn busy into productive, set the priorities. If the best use of your time is talent development, then add coaching sessions to your calendar. If you need to raise the visibility of your company, then put that on your schedule. You know what gets you the most traction every week, so block that time first. I tell my clients they should have five priorities for the year – things that, if done consistently, would result in serious progress. Those items should hit your calendar every week.

3. Review & Reset. Turning busy into productive would be easy if customers didn’t change, the market didn’t move and competition just took a break. But it doesn’t work like that. What made you productive this quarter may not work next quarter, so you need to carve out time on a monthly basis to review what you’re doing, where you’re spending your time and what’s making you productive. You are your best coach when it comes to turning busy into productive. The more time you spend reviewing where you’re wasting time, the more you can reset and become even more productive.

No matter how much we want it to, the pace of change isn’t going to slow down. Our to-do lists are going to get longer, our customers are going to demand more, and technology will make us even more accessible. Now is the time to put these strategies into action, work with our teams and turn busy into productive.

Meridith Elliott Powell is an author, keynote speaker and business strategist. For more leadership tips, visit her website, valuespeaker.com.