So I stopped saying I’m busy about 2 years ago. It has nothing to do with the fact that I’m less busy nowadays – in fact, I now probably have a higher average hours of activity per day than before. You could say it was more like a shift of mindset, maybe even an epiphany I got. That epiphany being that everything in life is relative. Kinda sounds obvious, I know. But this made me realize that it’s all about setting priorities.
If you respond to someone asking to meet up with “I’m so busy this week/month/whatever…”, you’re basically saying “I’ve got more important things to do than meeting you”. And that’s fine, but why sugarcoat it? I’d rather be straight up. No need to be rude obviously, but complaining about being busy while YOU are in control of YOUR plans, is just total BS.
Same goes for work-related situations. And now that’s also one of the key sources of many people’s feeling of being swamped. I work in consulting myself, often fulfilling a role between business and IT. The main struggle of clients is that they want the Ferrari, but have the budget for a Fiat. The solution I preach? Prioritize! What has the most business / customer value? And what about the complexity and effort of implementation? How does it match the company’s vision? Make a nice consultant-style matrix and voilà, you got yourself a roadmap – now start with prio number 1 (okay, disclaimer: it’s not always this easy but you get the point). Once you did your number ones, if you still have time and feel like it, start with number two’s and so on. So agile, I love it!
So next time someone asks you for a coffee/movie/date/conference call/something and you already have plans with higher priority, say “I have [insert activity] then, but how about we [insert suggestion] [insert realistic time and date]?” You’re cutting the complaint crap and show that you’re trying to make an effort. Pretty simple, give it a try.
I’m not saying it’s that straight-forward with all life decisions but it helps with putting the smaller things in perspective to your bigger goals (like my girl Sarah would say, keep the endgame in mind). This should result in you feeling less busy (or even guilty) and feeling more in control. Keep it nimble 😉