The Life Coach School Podcast · Brooke Castillo

Ep #523: Busy Work vs. Result Work

June 6, 2024·21 min·1 clip

Brooke Castillo reveals why running in place keeps you stuck, while moving forward—even in the wrong direction—gets results.

Brooke Castillo, founder of The Life Coach School, examines why intense effort often fails to produce desired outcomes in business and careers. She contrasts "busy work" with "result work" based on her coaching experience with students at different income levels. Castillo observes that her higher-earning students face fewer struggles with productive effort compared to those just starting out. She defines both busy work and result work as activities that can be tiring and time-consuming. The critical difference is that only result work generates measurable progress, while busy work is likened to running in place. Castillo references a previous podcast episode titled "what is hard" and articles from sports coaches about result-oriented practice. She shares an example of a student trying to build a coaching practice by posting on social media daily for a year with little growth in followers or engagement. Castillo explains her own business-building strategy has involved running targeted ads to funnel new people into her world. A key insight is that repeating an action without a change in outcome, even if it feels like effort, is a form of busy work. She argues that failure in a new direction is more valuable than repeated failure in the same way because it provides new information. The concept is framed as "winning or learning," where both outcomes constitute productive result work. Castillo's "Monday hour one" program teaches planning days around completed results rather than completed activities. She suggests an assignment to list all the different results, successful or not, one has created toward a big goal. The episode's tone is direct, motivational, and instructional, drawn from Castillo's personal coaching anecdotes. Listeners seeking practical frameworks to increase productivity and overcome entrepreneurial frustration would appreciate this episode. Individuals content with their current routines or averse to self-directed goal analysis might find it less relevant.

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