We live in a culture that thrives on being busy. In fact, you'll often hear people brag about just how busy they are every day. But it's important to note that “busyness” doesn't necessarily correlate with success, or even getting things done. In fact, when you get extremely busy with work, it actually becomes easier to let things fall through the cracks, because you don't have the time to take a step back and analyze the progress of your business.

It all comes down to this: quality over quantity. Just because you are coming into work early and staying late, putting in more hours than anyone else at the office, doesn't mean that you're on the fast track to success. It's time to stop thinking about the number of hours you're working, and start thinking about the amount of progress you're making on accomplishing the goals you've set for yourself and your business.

This is one of the biggest reasons why it's important to have a planned-out routine that you can follow. By following what you have on your daily to-do list, you'll much more efficiently accomplish the tasks you've laid out for yourself. Chances are, you'll be able to accomplish much more within a smaller amount of time, giving you a chance to pull back a bit on the hours you're spending at work.

Try getting into the habit of asking yourself these three questions every day:

• At the end of every day, ask  yourself how much closer you are to accomplishing the goals you've laid out for yourself. The focus should never be on how busy you were, but how much you've achieved.
• Ask yourself: do I have a plan in place so I can get the most out of my day tomorrow?
• Finally: does my routine make the most out of the time I have available to me, and does it give me the chance to take breaks and reflect on my progress?

Life in the business world is busy; there's not much getting around that. But there are various types of busy. You can be busy yet still have time for other things in your life outside of your business, and you can achieve that without having to sacrifice any progress made towards your goals.

Quality over quantity, every time.