“I’m too busy” is a story we tell ourselves. We will make time for what is important to us.
Busyness is a choice. I used to say, “I don’t have time for that.” And I believed it. I really felt like I didn’t have time. I was always in motion, but motion doesn’t equal progress, and while, “busy people have many goals, productive people have priorities.”
“People who are always busy may appear to be accomplishing a lot, but are they actually being productive?”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m am “busier” now than I have ever been. I’m raising 2 amazing teenagers. I own 2 brick and mortar businesses. I write, meditate, and journal every day, I work out 5 days a week, read, listen to podcasts, cook for my family, and enjoy friendships and family. And I feel like I am moving slower and in a calmer manner than ever before.
A few years ago, I couldn’t have imagined journaling or meditating.
But as I listen to business leaders discussing their habits, most of them talk about journaling, and meditating. And, I’m coming to embrace the law of least effort , and focusing on the fact that I CAN do less and accomplish more. Gone are the days when I feel like I “just don’t have time”. Because the truth is you can do anything you want, just not everything you want. This is about focus and priorities.
Chase Jarvis says to replace, “I don’t have time,” with “that’s not a priority for me right now.” I found this to be pretty powerful.
Tim Ferriss says, “If you say you don’t have time to meditate for 5 minutes, you need to meditate for 10. If you say you don’t have time to meditate for an hour, you need to meditate for 3”.
I used to tell myself, “I don’t have time for this I don’t have time for that”. I was a stay-at-home mom with real commitments, but I said yes to too many commitments, and if I go ahead and tell the truth, I would steal a lot of time to do the things I wanted to do, like sneak in a nap, or sit on the couch and read for a few hours, or train for races. I don’t think any of those things are bad. I wish I could do more of that now. That is my ideal life, but I still FELT too busy. I didn’t have (make) time to call my parents, or have friends over for dinner, or talk on the phone to my sister. And I certainly told my husband, “I don’t have time for that.”
The changes I have implemented are great, and I hope to continue down this path. By the way, these days, I chat with my parents every week.
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