Do you hear yourself complain about being time poor?
Do you feel like you’re too busy to:
Think strategically
Engage in reflective practice
Get beyond your to-do list
Plan
Exercise, meditate… ?
I notice how it’s almost automatic to make noise about being busy. I also notice the automatic acknowledgement of how busy others are. It feels like busyness is required, that it is assumed, or even some kind of compliment. Sometimes we do it as an act of solidarity, paving the way for the request we’re about to make!
I also notice how busyness can be worn as a badge of honour. Have you ever been part of a group of people chatting about who’s the busiest? It’s a strangely competitive conversation. My remark is always; “Look at us competing to be the busiest like that’s the goal in life. I don't want to hear from the busiest person. I want to hear from the person who has the time they want, and the results they want. In my mind that person is the winner!”
I regularly work in organisations where people are worried about not being seen to be busy. This usually presents itself as a person's resistance to making themselves unavailable for a period of time, even if that is to progress an important task or project.
This could be a cultural issue where the organisation has lost sight of the difference between being busy and being productive. The thing is, when I ask senior leaders in these organisations about people blocking time out, taking themselves away to a private workspace, or working from home to progress an important piece of work, invariably they understand and support it.
The issue then, is one of perception and a lack of communication. People within the organisation believe they need to be seen to be busy but that belief hasn’t been properly investigated. There are a variety of missing conversations about what matters most and what is required to move these things forward. There are missing conversations around agreeing work approaches, responsibility, and accountability.
I wonder if busyness is also a convenient excuse? There is safety in being busy. While you're being busy, you don't have to address the parts of your job that are uncomfortable, more demanding, or that you don't feel very confident about. “I don’t have time” offers quite a prickly defence.
I’m conscious that I’m sounding a bit judgey - that’s not my intention. My intention is to shine some light on how you might have busyness constructed in your thinking. How you might have it set to a default position. I’d like to offer some helpful disruption.
For sure work and life can get hectic, and it often feels like you’re too busy and don’t have enough time. However, I suspect time is not the real villain. Answer the following question as a quick and dirty way of seeing if you have available time:
Do you watch TV (Netflix; YouTube; Reels; TikTok, etc)?
If your answer is yes (like me), you have time. That is why I say I don't think time is the real villain. I believe the real villain is energy. Energy, and perhaps some discipline around establishing better habits and practices (which also requires energy!).
If I tell myself the truth about why certain things aren’t happening, it has a lot more to do with running out of energy. It’s a complex subject including consideration of your purpose and what genuinely motivates you. However, one thing's for sure, if you are going to be the best leader you can be, you are going to need to bring the best of yourself to it. That means you need to look after your energy.
Having the right energy is about maximising your time, creating some space, and looking after your health and wellbeing. I created the Energy Lab as a guide and audit with lots of practical work-ons. My recommendation is to pick one thing at a time and take action straight away. When you have that down, pick another one thing. You’ll be amazed at the difference you can make even in just one week.
Matt helps leaders and teams develop their mindset and resourcefulness so they can relate productively, communicate effectively, and navigate challenge, change and complexity with confidence.
Through coaching and training, he empowers leaders with better choices and more options for progress - building better leadership from the inside out.
Curious what that could look like for you or your organisation? Let’s talk.