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How To Tell If Busy Is Running Your Life

By June 29, 2022Articles

I still catch friends almost saying the B Word—busy—to me before they quickly catch themselves. They know I banned being busy years ago while still nailing a big corporate career and setting up my business.

Because busyness has no place in business. Or life. It’s the modern curse that we all need to put a hex on now and banish from our lives to make room for the things that actually count.

I know you have a lot on right now (yes, that was deliberate busy avoidance) but I invite you to take a quick quiz to work out if being busy is—ironically—making you less productive and causing disconnect in four areas at home and work.

    1. Life disconnect: Has jamming a ton of things into every day become a habit? Have your children asked you to put away your phone and play with them? because it’s a habit?A woman recently came up to me after I did a keynote and said her daughter is sick of being a “tech orphan”. The mum thought it was funny—I don’t. Being busy stops us doing things which are meaningful and purposeful for our families, our priorities, our self-care, our relationships.
    2. Happiness disconnect: Are you feeling constantly unfulfilled, depleted and exhausted, like you’re running really fast on the treadmill of life and going nowhere? But, you cry, I have to go to the parents’ committee meeting or plan my next presentation. Do you really? Or do you think people expect you to?Prioritise every day the things which will give you the health and wellness to achieve goals. Be proactive, not reactive.
    3. Happiness disconnect: Are you feeling constantly unfulfilled, depleted and exhausted, like you’re running really fast on the treadmill of life and going nowhere? But, you cry, I have to go to the parents’ committee meeting or plan my next presentation. Do you really? Or do you think people expect you to?
    4. Potential disconnect: Ask yourself, ‘Are all my actions and non-actions right now creating the legacy I want?’ If you’re being pulled in all different directions, you’re losing the connection to who you stand for and you want to be. Trust me, you don’t want to be 50 and nowhere near where you wanted in life because your focus was on rushing around.

Okay. If you answered yes to any of the questions, maybe it’s time to reassess your relationship with busy. Turns out I can help. My book Busy? explores why you’re swamped by your to-do list and gives replicable, easy strategies for anyone overwhelmed by busy.

Check it out here: https://juliehyde.com.au//busy-book/