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It's time to take your seat at the table. Find out how with Vosi Tembegwayo 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 Instagra, Instagrams, the Facebooks, the Twitters. You can tell I'm an old soul calling it Twitter. But The X, the LinkedIn, all of them that start with hello, family. And then they go on 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 Murubuanji. Isaac, I think it's Motobuanji 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 two things on the go. Two 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've buil 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 our 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 evol, which you'll find right and ready. And for those of you who want a sneak peek of what it is we're doing, I did a podcast recently when I was in Nigeria on business with. They've since become what I'd like to think are very good friends of mine, Chika and her husband ece, and they run a podcast called the Afropolitan. 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 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 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 or 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, 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 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 Matter podcast. And here we do today, as we always have, talk about these ideas that matters. Today I want 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 means 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 Trello or your slack, or it's sitting in your notes or your Monday.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 wins this particular marathon. And at the end, I think he ran the 800 meters or the 1500 meters. And the interviewer, the sportscaster goes to him and he says, so 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 either gets 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 I'm a big, big fan. So the point I want to get to here is it's really important for you to recognize that being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're making progress. So the first thing 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 busyness has become a drug. It's a socially accepted addiction. And it numbs you, it 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 kings in their particular tribes in different countries. At the same time, I have had several presentations to potential investors. Into our next fund. We finalized the fund structure. We're busy with the licensing, the registration of the offshore stuff. Finalized 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. Changed the team in my School of Scale team. Changed the management team. Changed the product and go to market strategy. Changed a little bit of our branding and go to market strategy. Changed the pricing. Submitted several proposals for different development finance partners in the world that we're going to be working with. And by the way, I'm not reading this off a list. These are just the things that I can think about. And you know what? But 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 just missed it because 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, 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. 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. Yet 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 then 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 to 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 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 fear 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. 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. 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 13, 14 years ago when I first read the book and Andy Grove was the former CEO of Intel, he wrote about this OKR framework and then it was championed right by Google through a fellow called John Dewar. And this idea of OKR 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. Key word there, Evidence. Not a feeling, not an interpretation. Evidence. If your calendar is full, but your key results aren't moving, you're busy, but you're not being productive. So why do billion dollar companies CEOs use OKRs because they want to eliminate the biggest thief of progress. The biggest thief of progress is what I call vague effort. It's the idea that just because 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 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Read that book when I was circa 16, 17 years old in 2002. That was the first serious business book I read. And it set me on a path that would really cement 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 of those three categories, I should tell you, most people spend their lives actually in category three, which is where 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 shouts 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. Busyness doesn't produce exhaustion. Busyness is exhaustion. But alignment produces elevation. Busy people run out of time. Focused people run ahead of time. Busy people get lost in the noise. Focused people celebrate the narrative. In fact, they shape it. Business people will celebrate activities. Focused 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, 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 Vusi Tembagwayo, signing out Sayonara SA.