It’s one thing for me or other time management and behavioural experts to tell you to stop being busy. Ha. It’s like a joke without a punchline—so you want me to suddenly not be busy while I have an impactful career, three kids who all play four sports and hair which needs cutting more than once a year?
Okay. Yes, it sounds hard. But is it? Let me share my one secret to nailing not being busy.
Stop doing things.
Simple as that.
Some of you will be shaking your heads because stopping sounds counter intuitive. As if it would make a whole new pile of stuff pile up behind the existing pile. So you have to trust me.
Stop doing things. Put a line in the sand.
Take ten minutes to sit and write down everything you’re spending time on that takes away from doing things that nurture your heart, body and mind: cooking meals, exercising, reading, meditating, seeing friends, being creative.
So many people, in particular women try to do everything at once and still feel they’re failing and doing nothing really well. If that’s you, I want you to start delegating and asking for help. I want you to know that family is a team sport. You don’t have to do it all yourself. Martyr is not a good look.
Work out whether you’re living someone else’s life. Do your kids do a lot of activities because they’re things you missed out on as a kid? Are you trying to keep up with the Joneses? Does looking at social media heighten that competitive feeling of having to do more, be more?
Do you do all you do out of a misguided sense of obligation and expectation?
If you want to find out more about cutting busyness out of your life to do more of what you love, I have you covered. My book Busy? talks you through how to stop scrambling to control your to-do list and start to be a real leader who informs and influences your industry, market, organisation and team.
It’s full of strategies and secrets to making the most of life, every day.
No more busy bee.