How to Escape Being Too Busy to Get Anything Done
These days, you’re too busy to meet a friend for lunch, go to the gym, launch that side project or take that class that has always looked interesting. You’re too busy to eat a meal without reading your email, and you’re probably too busy to read this article as well, unless you’ve got about four other things going at the same time.
Washington Post reporter Brigid Schultze summed it up this way: “Always behind and always late, with one more thing and one more thing and one more thing to do before rushing out the door.”
If any of this sounds familiar, you have probably wondered how you can take control of your schedule and escape this pattern of perpetual overload. If so, it’s important to realize that there are different kinds of busy. The key to fixing your “busyness problem” is to identify which kind(s) of busy is plaguing you:
1. “Busyness is a virtue” busy
Being busy is a badge of honor in our culture. We admire those people who seem to be able to handle vast amounts of work in a day. Our culture also values speed and haste. Think about it. Fast food restaurants aren’t fast enough; we also need to be able to get food, even eat it, without ever getting out of our car. Sure, it may be convenient, but it’s also sending the message that faster is better.
In the context of our culture, being busy makes us feel important. In his famous post, “The Busy Trap,” Time Kreider writes, “Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy.”
Breaking this pattern is tough, because it has become so entrenched throughout our society. But ask yourself this: why is busyness considered a virtue? Isn’t it more a sign of poor time management and discipline? Instead of trying to do more, why not try to do less. The goal shouldn’t be to squeeze more in each day, but rather to identify the things that matter and dedicate most of your time there.
2. “Can’t say no” busy
With this kind of busy, we take it upon ourselves to make sure everyone is happy. And whether we need to be liked or just want to avoid conflict, it’s so much easier to say yes than no. That’s why even when our schedules are packed to the brim, we decide to take on one more thing for someone else.
If you’re overloading your schedule because you accept any and every request that comes your way, it’s time to set some healthy boundaries, whether it’s with friends, family members, volunteer organizations, or colleagues. No matter the situation, you can’t please everyone, so you might as well start making your own goals a priority.
3. “No one else can do this” busy
It’s incredibly validating to feel like we’re the only ones who can do something right. Maybe you’re worried that your spouse will forget to pick something up at the store if he/she does the errands, or if your assistant wrote the opening to the report, you’d just have to rewrite it anyways. In short, things will be faster, easier, and better if you just do them yourself.
If you have very exacting standards, generally don’t trust people, or are worried about being dispensable, then sharing the load is going to be a challenge. When it’s hard to let go of the reins, you should start small by delegating some lower priority tasks to gain confidence in the process. It’s also important to remind yourself that there’s a difference between someone doing it wrong and not doing it your way.
4. “Putting off the hard stuff” busy
Maybe there’s something big that you should attend to in your life…like looking for a new job or starting a business. These types of activities take you out of your comfort zone, yet responding to emails and other busy work is safe and predictable. As a result, we keep our To-Do lists filled with endless tasks in order to avoid risking the unknown and potential failure.
To combat this natural tendency, one needs to set goals: first big picture annual goals and then smaller monthly ones. As you plan your daily activities or evaluate a new time commitment, keep these goals in mind. Is a new task helping you reach these goals or diverting your time and attention? Not having (or not prioritizing) your goals leads you to this modern dilemma of running as fast as you can, without ever moving a step forward.
5. “Digital distractions” busy
It’s hard to discuss busyness without including smartphones, texting, tweets, email, and the countless other digital distractions that vie for our attention every minute of the day. Does your phone or laptop notify you each time an email comes in? How many of your texts are really time-sensitive?
Many experts are now advising us to turn off these notifications and distractions when trying to work. That’s because studies are showing that we aren’t as good at multi-tasking as we might believe. In fact, people who think they are expert multi-taskers are often the worst at it! Dr. Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford, recommends logging off from email and then committing 20 minutes at a time to email. This helps ensure our brains stay focused on the task at hand and we don’t lose precious time when our brain is forced to switch back and forth between tasks.
SOURCE: MASHABLE
