Today, everyone’s busy (and as a result we have very short attention spans – so stay with me here). As much as many of us would like to make some more money, most of us would really like more time. We’d like more time to spend with family and friends, to attend our children’s activities, to enjoy our hobbies, or just have some ‘me time’.
But how did we get so busy? Was ‘busy’ really the goal? Was our objective in life to be so busy that we rushed from one thing to the other; neither enjoying each activity nor giving it our best? Remember way back in our life when we actually said that we needed something to do just to ‘kill time’? (Wow, if we could only get some of that time back!)
Unfortunately, American society went through a phase where being busy was a symbol of status. It meant we were important. We were so ‘in demand’ that our time was consumed by others who needed our brilliance. They just couldn’t move forward without us. At least, that’s what we told ourselves. Back then we carried our cellphones everywhere as a symbol of our importance not for convenience.
Well, most of us sooner or later wake up and ask ourselves ‘what the heck am I doing, here’? For me it was a little over 8 years ago. I was busily juggling multiple consulting clients while building my professional coaching practice, when my wife and I got the opportunity to have our wonderful granddaughter spend much of her early years living with us. At that moment I decided to take control of my time and stop trying to do so much. I decided to stop working harder and harder, longer and longer, and instead work smarter. And accept when smarter didn’t work – or (let’s be real) I wasn’t actually as smart as I thought I was, to accept it as okay.
That decision changed my life for the better, instantly. Since that day I have rarely been stressed, and rarely ‘too busy’ to think straight. I get more important things done, and usually get more done in general because I’m much more effective when I focus on one thing at a time.
So how did I do it? 7 simple steps:
1. Decide what is truly important to you in life, and give that the time it needs.
2. Create a list. You don’t have to remember ‘everything’ once you’ve written it down. Plus, once you get one thing done, the list tells you what’s next.
3. Prioritize the list. An important note here. ‘Prioritize’ here doesn’t mean rank them by importance, but still expect to get them all done. It means rank them in order of importance, then do what you can (in order) in the time you have. Those things that can’t effectively be completed get pushed to the next day. And you feel good in knowing that you got the most important things done.
4. Manage the list. Understand that things will come up that need to be added to the list. Don’t just put them at the bottom. Put them where they should go in order of importance. (But unless they are absolutely urgent, don’t prioritize them ahead of what you’re currently doing.)
5. Learn to say ‘no’. Will I tell you more about this one? “No.” (I know you know already.)
6. Don’t expect perfection or that you will always get everything accomplished. There are certainly times when good IS good enough, and tomorrow IS a good day to get some things done.
7. Don’t allow others to control your time. Don’t let others determine your priorities or tell you how you should spend your time.
It’s you time after all. So do with it what you truly want to do.
Question: How have you handled the challenge of being busier than you want to be?
