We all seem to like to wear the badge of busy like it’s some kind of honour. I once worked with a woman who was always so ‘busy’ that she needed to work until 9 p.m. every night. Most of the time she was actually asleep in front of her computer but my boss always used to comment on her ‘commitment.’ My (usually inside voice) response was that she still hadn’t delivered on anything I’d asked her for help with, so what exactly was she ‘busy’ with? Just because your ass is sitting in a chair until 9 p.m. at night doesn’t mean you’re more committed than the person who leaves at 5. It’s really easy to fill your time with crap. It’s the basic tenet of Covey’s ‘First Things First’ habit to put in your ‘big rocks.’ Most of us like to hide behind busy because sometimes tackling those big rocks is painful. In my experience, work-life big rocks typically fall into two main buckets: relationships and results. Some of us are comfortable focusing on results (like finalizing our budgets) but will avoid things like a tough performance conversation (which is needed in order to hit the budget). It’s super easy to hide behind busy to avoid doing the important things you really need to do but don’t want to do. Don’t use ‘I’m busy’ as a bullsh*t excuse for not focusing on the things that are actually going to have an impact on your relationships or your deliverables.
#leadershiptruth
