It’s all about Impact
By Anders Månsson, Senior Advisor at Ventures Accelerated
December 17, 2025
Modern workplaces seem to buzz with endless activity. Our inboxes fill up, calendars fill with back-to-back meetings, and the hum of all our productivity machines never stops. In this environment, “being busy” has become a badge of honor, signaling dedication, energy, and engagement. Yet, beneath the surface of all this movement lies a critical question. Are we accomplishing something meaningful or are we merely doing things to stay in perpetual motion, because it creates the illusion of results, achievements and impact?
Doing is about motion; accomplishing is also about direction. Many professionals fall into the comfort of doing - sending emails, attending meetings, drafting reports - because these tasks offer visible proof of effort. They take up our time and make us feel useful. In the short term, this busyness can even create an illusion of progress. We go home at the end of the day believing that the more we did, the more we achieved.
However, this mindset, which is easy to fall into in today’s high-pace business life, confuses action with impact. A day full of meetings does not necessarily advance a project. Hundreds of emails do not necessarily equal one meaningful decision. The professional who spends all their time reacting to incoming demands risks losing sight of the larger purpose behind those demands. Without a clear connection to outcomes, busyness becomes circular: we work hard to sustain work itself rather than to create change or deliver results.
Accomplishment, by contrast, is intentional. It asks not “What did I do today?” but “What difference did I make?” Accomplishing something means identifying what truly matters - what tasks or projects move the organization forward, improve customer experience, strengthen a team, or advance a mission, and then dedicating energy to achieving those goals.
Professionals who focus on accomplishment measure success not by volume but by value. They set clear objectives, define what success looks like, and regularly assess how their work contributes to broader outcomes. Where busyness rewards speed and visible effort, accomplishment values clarity and purpose. This shift in focus transforms both personal productivity and organizational performance.
To move from doing to accomplishing, we can adopt several practical habits:
Define outcomes before actions. Before starting a task or attending a meeting, clarify the expected result. Ask, “What do we want to achieve?” If an activity lacks a clear outcome, it may not be worth pursuing.
Protect focus time. Deep, uninterrupted work enables real progress. Block time for strategic thinking, problem-solving, or high-impact tasks. Guard those hours as fiercely as any meeting slot.
Beware of “performative busyness”. Responding to every message immediately or jumping into every meeting may feel productive but often diminishes real output. Learn to delegate, prioritize, or sometimes say no.
Measure progress by results. Create metrics that reflect genuine accomplishment—projects completed, goals met, impact delivered—rather than hours worked or emails sent.
Reflect regularly. Take time each week to review what was achieved versus what was merely done. Reflection turns action into learning and helps recalibrate focus for the coming week.
All of this, I think, makes perfect sense to people when they read it, but it seems so easy to slip into the busyness trap again. Culture and habit seem to eat good intentions for breakfast. But it also has to do with leadership. I recently read a Linked-In post written by an insightful Head of HR, Hanna Lyredal (Hanna Lyredal | LinkedIn), wondering why we still recruit senior leaders listing the following keywords as desirable in the target profile: High pace, Hungry for action, Energetic and Ability to handle stress.
Hanna suggested instead, and I think wisely, that senior leaders should be recruited with the following keywords top of mind:
Judgment, you navigate what is important, not what is “loud”
Pattern recognition, you see what is about to happen
Strategic calm, you stay the course when others lose it
Consequential understanding, you think beyond the next quarter
Relational capital, people follow you because you inspire trust
Crystallized intelligence, the experience-based intelligence that is actually strongest at 50–60 years old. The one that helps us make wise decisions based on real lessons, not buzzwords
Ultimately, doing keeps us busy, but accomplishing keeps us effective. In a landscape filled with constant noise, those who prioritize accomplishment stand out, not because they are busiest, but because they make the biggest difference. Friends and colleagues in the industry - ‘tis the season for reflection! It’s all about impact!