Too busy! Top 3 reasons why we are too busy
Many of my clients come to me because they are too busy to do what they love.
- They work well too many hours.
- They spend the majority of their time putting out flames and trying to stay on top of things.
- They are having to turn down possibilities because there simply isn’t enough time to do more work.
- Others in the team are unhappy.
- They are exhausted, disappointed, and demotivated because they see no way out.
- Before you can make a change, you must first recognise this simple truth…
- Being overly busy is a result of our choices, not the source of our issues.
- It’s easy to believe that being too busy is the problem, but it’s actually a symptom of deeper issues that must be addressed.
What’s the good news? It can be fixed!
What’s the bad news? You are the only ones who can make things right.
Understanding the top three reasons why business owners are too busy is the first step towards resolving the problem.
1) Saying yes more often than no
According to the Pareto principle, commonly known as the 80/20 rule, 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results. This also suggests that 80% of our efforts result in only 20% of our outcomes.
In other words, you could be wasting up to 80% of your time on unimportant tasks. eek!
This occurs when my clients automatically say yes to everything that comes their way. Every new project gets my approval. Every new customer. Every fresh concept.
Every time you say yes to anything, you (and your team) have less to go around. You wind up making incremental improvement in many areas rather than meaningful success in the areas that matter the most.
In his book Essentialism, Greg McKeown brilliantly summarises this.
“Once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone [and everything], you can make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.”
2) You still regard yourself as a doer rather than a leader
All business actions can be classified as Doing, Managing, or Leading. The more time and energy you devote to doing, the less time you have for management and leadership.
It is a habit to do. If you’re like many of my customers, you’re simply accustomed to being the doer since you’ve been doing it for so long. You may be proud of your ability to ‘get it all done’! If you continue to identify as the ‘doer,’ you will constantly be too busy because you will not be willing to let it go.
When I come in to help a firm, one of my favourite things to witness is everyone in their element:
Leader: YOU
Manager: Me (or another Certified OBM)
Doer: Team
3) Failure to establish a solid team and system foundation
Once you’ve accepted your job as a leader and are ready to let go of the doing, the next step is to hire the proper people to do the work and create a solid foundation of systems for everyone to work from.
It’s not rocket science to say that you need to hire a team – specifically a manager. And yet many people struggle here because they haven’t hired this level of critical support in their business before.
Most business owners aren’t great at identifying, hiring, and leading a team – that’s okay; it’s a skill that can be mastered! That is why being willing to invest in employing terrific people who are exceptional at those things is what propels you from busy to the next level.
If you are too busy, I invite you to investigate these three areas and let me know which one is causing you the most discomfort. I can promise you that even minor improvements in any of these three areas will make a significant difference.