 The Busyness of Business - Prioritizing what
Matters
By Barbara Minken of Sol Rhythms
Everybody’s busy. We’re busy with our businesses, busy at home, busy on the
weekends, busy when we get together, busy when we are alone. We’re too busy to do
more than skim the newspaper, too busy to sit down and eat at a table, too busy to take a
holiday, and too busy to fully live. Sometimes we think no one could possibly be as busy
as us, being entrepreneurs, small business owners, parents, and volunteers. The truth is
that busyness is a common dis-ease.
We’ve become so preoccupied with being busy, that at times life
just unconsciously flies by. We arrive at our office and realize that the drive was a blur
because we were doing our telephone banking. We scratch our head wondering when that
weight, gray hair and family of wrinkles magically appeared. We struggle to recall what we
ate for dinner while we were crunching numbers on our computer. Pausing amidst the
hurricane that engulfs us, we see flailing and fallen relationships every-where we turn.
We realize we’ve grown numb and distanced from our family, friends, clients,
co-workers, and even ourselves. Looking into the mirror at what has become an estranged
reflection we ask, “What have I traded my life for?”
Being busy is a preoccupation that keeps us powerless and victimized.
It’s easy to blame those things that “need immediate attention” for
“robbing” us of our precious time to develop quality relationships, and
consequentially build healthy businesses. We’ve all had excuses and stories dumped
onto us by someone who can’t seem to find the time to get back to us, return our
calls, meet us for coffee, or arrive on time, if they do. These weary and exasperated
people have allowed menial and often unimportant tasks to consume their time and energy.
In fact, they have chosen to let busyness dictate and control their lives! Overwhelmed by
their busyness, these victims rely on a “woe is me for being busy” story to get
them off the hook for what is really a fear of committing to being accountable, proactive
creators of their lives.
Life is about relationships. However busy you may think you are, if you
want to make a difference, you must invest time in building strong and healthy
relationships. I recently challenged an entrepreneur friend of mine to look at what was
keeping her continually unavailable. She replied, “If I’m not busy, I will never
be successful with my business.” She has since realized the disastrous result of
giving her power and energy to the busyness she believed was required to grow her
business. Obsessing over her business aspirations resulted in friends no longer calling,
collaborative partners slipping away, and ended her primary relationship. She was shocked
to realize the types of priorities she was most proactive about. Examining her
‘A’ list, she saw routine tasks, tedious mechanics, and trivial details keeping
herself and others at arms length. She realized that sharing quality ‘A’, not
‘D’ (’D’ as in down the list of priorities), time with herself and
others would bring both her personal and professional lives into balance. Between tears,
she confessed that a preoccupation with her current ‘A’ list would eventually
push more people and any hope of success away.
It takes courage, strength, and effort to be accountable for how we
prioritize our time. Both personally and professionally, we need to spend and invest our
time consciously. We need to anchor ourselves in today, not the past or the future, so
that we can empower the greater vision and purpose for our lives instead of the stuff that
keeps us running. This may mean confronting fears about why you attract busyness. Or
honestly asking yourself questions about what you are avoiding by being preoccupied.
Slowing down to do some personal housekeeping and even shouting “You’re not the
boss of me!” to clutter and excess will make space in your life for more important
things.
Changing how we use time may sound like hard work. But then again,
isn’t being busy? Take a moment amidst your busyness today to ask yourself,
“What is on my ‘A’ list? Am I satisfied with what I am trading my life
for?” If you’re not, I challenge you to do something about it.
Barbara Minken of Sol Rhythms, facilitates interpersonal
& team communication through creative playshops. Playshop experiences combine hand
drumming, painting, collaging, dancing, writing etc. to powerfully unleash personal and
professional potential. For program information, contact Barbara at 403.861.9811 or email:
b_minken@hotmail.com |
