I’d like you to get honest now.
You don’t need to email me and confess, and you sure don’t need to admit it to anyone else either, just yet.
But I’d like you to really think about how many times a day you tell others, and more importantly, yourself, that you’re too busy.
If that sentence has stopped you in your tracks for a moment, this blog is for you.
If you’re working 40 hours a week, then, chances are, yes, you’re a pretty busy person. Add into that a family life, probably children, at least one hobby so that some moments actually feel like they still belong to you and you’re full to the brim.
If you’re in the US or Australia and you work full time or run your own business, you work more hours that just about any other developed country in the world.
Unfortunately, all that “busy” is not what makes you the money.
Here’s the upshot – busy doesn’t make you rich.
And busy doesn’t mean business.
If you’re in the habit of using “busy” as an excuse for the little things – too busy to exercise, too busy to plan, too busy to get downtime, too busy to cook for yourself – then chances are, you’re using it as an excuse for bigger things too.
Like money.
If you’re a business owner, you’re probably avoiding a 40 hour 9-5 grind by working an 80 hour ‘till 3am gig instead.
And, look, admittedly, all of us sometimes push past what’s reasonable to meet a deadline or because you’re right at the beginning of a whole new concept and it’s far too fresh and exciting to put down straight away.
But they are a short term sprint, I’m talking about a busy business way of life.
So you’re working like a crazy person, and you’re denying yourself self-care, you’re pretending that dashing from one unfinished part of the project to another is working and you’re getting no sleep, your family don’t remember who you are and your friends feel like they only see you on Facebook.
Still, you find yourself too busy to enjoy your success so far, too busy to market your business, too busy to network, too busy to attend that workshop or sit through that webinar.
Too busy to learn something new.
Too busy to rethink your mindset.
Too busy to make small modifications that in the long run will see your business move from a start-up to a kingdom.
Too busy to make serious financial changes to your business.
A large percentage of the “too busy” comes from self-imposed restrictions. These obligations are created out of a fear of not doing enough, not knowing enough, being anxious about your skills and abilities or product and, what’s worse, sometimes a fear of the concept of “what else?”
What else could you be doing with your time if you were a little more effective?
Strategic planning takes a little investment. A time investment. And an admission that flying by the seat of your pants from one task to another is not going to build you a sustainable business.
It might make you feel important, it probably will make you feel necessary, and, until you really take a good, hard look at your habits, it may fool you into thinking you’re heading in the direction of financial and business success.
But I am writing this blog for you because I’ve seen business after business hit the wobbles because they haven’t invested the time, energy and money into properly planning a strategically sustainable business.
You and your “big picture” are just as valuable to the world if you’re not screaming around being busy all the time.
And all the “busy” in the world doesn’t save you from the wobbles.
