What does being too busy really mean?
You should know, that “being busy” is a myth. We all have shit to do, we all have things we’d rather be doing, and we all have a limited amount of time to do it with.
Whenever you tell somebody you are “too busy”, you are telling them that they are not a priority (yet) in your life.
The Honest Truth
One of the first things you should do is evaluate where your time is being spent each day. You’ll find repeating patterns in where your day is spent. Of course you can categorize these into two areas, important tasks and filler tasks.
Here’s an exercise, list out each and every task that you do in a day, you don’t have to give them timeframes or anything, but be aware of tasks that take longer than 5 minutes or so. For each of these tasks, put a + sign if they are important tasks, and put a – sign if they are filler tasks.
You will now have a list that looks like this:
- Take a Shower +
- Watch Youtube –
- Drive to Work +
- Check Email at Work +
- Surf the Internet –
- Hang Out With Family +
- Work On Side Project +
- Meet Friends For Beer +
- etc
The Big Challenge
Although tasks may be important, it doesn’t mean they are a priority in your life. You can argue that you despise driving to work due to traffic or you may hate checking email constantly at work waiting for the next reply to take action.
When you start to focus on where your time is spent, you will find that you are no longer too busy. You will be on a mission to optimize your time every day and use every waking minute to it’s best expense.
Being Okay With Being Busy
As you start to focus where your time is spent, you will notice that you will still be so-called busy, but you’ll be okay with this type of busy. Rather you are making a conscious decision to each and every task that will provide you with the absolute most value to help you reach your goals and ambitions. You’re comparing pros/cons with every choice, and ultimately, you’re okay with that.
At The End Of The Day
This is all about you. Your goals, your decisions, your motivations. It’s okay to admit that working on something might be more important than grabbing a beer with your friend here and there. However just know that if you decide to tackle the big challenge, you will easily find time to put these spur of the moment to the highest priority, even if it’s only for 30 minutes. At the end of the day, it’s about what provides the most value to you.