Life is busy! I hear that all the time. People are too busy to meet, too busy to go to the doctor... to busy to exercise... to busy to see their family... too busy to accomplish what is on their "To Do" lists... too busy to do what they enjoy. The list of excuses are endless but at the end of the day it comes down to a complete lack of control. The demands of life have become such that they no longer have control of their schedule, no longer have control of their lives. If this sounds like you it is time to regain that control and stop being busy for busy sake.
Dr. Hollowell wrote in his book "Crazy Busy", “You can feel like a tin can surrounded by a circle of a hundred powerful magnets,” he writes. “Many people are excessively busy because they allow themselves to respond to every magnet: tracking too much data, processing too much information, answering to too many people, taking on too many tasks — all in the sense that this is the way they must live in order to keep up and stay in control. But it’s the magnets that have the control.”
Technology has given us increased ways to stay connected and communicate with the world around us. We have access to more information, faster. The problem is, as Dr. Hollowell suggest, that we are too responsive to this information. Feeling obligated to constantly be connected and responsive we never stop being pulled in different directions. One of the first steps to regaining control of your schedule is to put the devices down, cell phones, email etc. and choose when you will be available. You do not have to carry your smart phone, checking it every ten minutes and replying to text and email constantly. Things are typically not that urgent. Decide when you will take phone calls, return emails and text then stick with that schedule. Do not feel the need to jump every time your phone or computer dings.
Here are additional steps you can take to regain control of your schedule:
Take the time at the start of the week to put on the calendar things you want to do. That is right, not what you feel you have to do but what you want to do. Scheduling things that you enjoy and are important to you personally is essential. If you do not do this life will come along with a set of demands and what you want will slip to the back burner.
Determine how many social engagements you want to participate in. Whether it is the company fundraiser, networking event, cousins birthday party, or party for a client the invitations will come. It is smart to determine how often you want to attend these events in advance. Then when the invitations come instead of saying yes to everything you will make choices based on what is the most important and prevent yourself from having event overload.
Decide how many late evenings or early mornings you want to work and do not make appointments that create additional late days.
Think about your reactions to certain tasks or events. What caused you to feel stressed or overloaded? See if you can delegate these things to someone else or higher help. For example if Saturdays yard work causes you to feel tired and stressed on the weekends get a gardener or at the very least higher the neighbor kid. Things you dislike feel like they take longer and can put you in a bad mood so it is better to avoid them.
Focus. When you are doing things that are important do not let yourself be interrupted or deviate until the task is complete. Leaving things half done will cause you to constantly think about them even when you are not working.
Prioritize. List your task out and determine how important each one is. Tackle according to priority. This
post from Women on Business has additional suggestions for this.
For more ways to regain control of your schedule read the time management section in
Back to Basics . We only have one life to live and it is best to enjoy it. No one can force you to slow down, evaluate what is important to you and regain control. However you can make the choice to do so and if you do the results will pleasantly surprise you.
"Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. "
~Lillian Dickson
