Are we becoming a nation of headless chickens running from one thing to another and exhausting ourselves in the process, or is it another way of justifying our existence? Research shows that the less busy we are, the more happy we are.
I’m up for that, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts! As I ponder my relationship with ‘busyness’ I wonder if it’s a throwback to my childhood? We never sat still for long and were seen to be resourceful and productive and this has continued into my adult life.
There are never enough hours in the day, especially as I’m a ‘don’t put off until tomorrow’ type of girl! Ray is often telling me to slow down and smell the roses and my stock response is to say that I relax through doing things. However, the more I self-coach, the more I wonder if ‘busyness’ is linked to one of my deep-rooted beliefs?
I think I may have equated not being busy to be seen as lazy, so have never seen the point of having a good sit down as it isn’t very productive.
In the past, busyness has reassured me that I’m needed for something or someone and therefore what I’m doing is adding value somewhere. So what changed?
Well, firstly, I got sick of hearing the busyness phrase spill out of my mouth!
Secondly, I realised I was becoming an all work and no play girl.
And thirdly, I hated being late for things, which was happening more and more due to the number of activities I was juggling. I had to find a way to stem my busyness and get myself re-focused on what I wanted out of life.
I decided to use the metaphor of the jar of life story about the stones and sand. If you put the sand in first and then the smaller pebbles, the big rocks won’t fit. However, if you start with the big rocks, you’ll find the pebbles and the sand will fit. And there’s room for some water, too! This is like our lives. When we don’t prioritise or spend too much time on all the little things, we’ll never achieve the bigger stuff.
I used to think, if I can just get these little things off my desk, I will be able to have more time to focus on the bigger stuff. But of course, I was always burning the midnight oil and pushing closer and closer to deadlines, which in turn made me feel more anxious.
It also meant I was starting to skip the things I loved doing, and the things that I had to do were becoming a chore and tinged with a bit of resentment. Then I was reading an article from the Wall Street Journal and it said, ‘the next time you find yourself saying ‘I don’t have time’ try saying instead ‘it’s not a priority’. It’s amazing how a change in our language can help so much in changing the priorities!
Research shows that the less busy we are, the more happy we are.
I’m up for that, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts!
As I ponder my relationship with ‘busyness’ I wonder if it’s a throwback to my childhood? We never sat still for long and were seen to be resourceful and productive and this has continued into my adult life.
There are never enough hours in the day, especially as I’m a ‘don’t put off until tomorrow’ type of girl! Ray is often telling me to slow down and smell the roses and my stock response is to say that I relax through doing things.
However, the more I self-coach, the more I wonder if ‘busyness’ is linked to one of my deep-rooted beliefs?
I think I may have equated not being busy to be seen as lazy, so have never seen the point of having a good sit down as it isn’t very productive.
In the past, busyness has reassured me that I’m needed for something or someone and therefore what I’m doing is adding value somewhere.
So what changed?
Well, firstly, I got sick of hearing the busyness phrase spill out of my mouth!
Secondly, I realised I was becoming an all work and no play girl.
And thirdly, I hated being late for things, which was happening more and more due to the number of activities I was juggling.
I had to find a way to stem my busyness and get myself re-focused on what I wanted out of life.
I decided to use the metaphor of the jar of life story about the stones and sand. If you put the sand in first and then the smaller pebbles, the big rocks won’t fit. However, if you start with the big rocks, you’ll find the pebbles and the sand will fit. And there’s room for some water, too!
This is like our lives. When we don’t prioritise or spend too much time on all the little things, we’ll never achieve the bigger stuff.
I used to think, if I can just get these little things off my desk, I will be able to have more time to focus on the bigger stuff. But of course, I was always burning the midnight oil and pushing closer and closer to deadlines, which in turn made me feel more anxious.
It also meant I was starting to skip the things I loved doing, and the things that I had to do were becoming a chore and tinged with a bit of resentment.
Then I was reading an article from the Wall Street Journal and it said, ‘the next time you find yourself saying ‘I don’t have time’ try saying instead ‘it’s not a priority’. It’s amazing how a change in our language can help so much in changing the priorities!