Being Busy And How To Conquer It

“Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action”. – Tim Ferriss

When I first saw the quote from Tim Ferriss “Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action”, it seemed a bit controversial to me. There were countless times when I was saying to everyone around me: “I’m so busy”. That I can’t go somewhere or do something because “I’m so busy”. There were numerous times when I had to pull myself out of my private time in order to write and submit site visit reports. But I want to focus on one particular occasion.

I went to the Dominican Republic for my best friend’s wedding for two weeks. I had to perform multiple site visits just before my trip in order to meet the quota for that month. However I still had reports and follow up letters to do from those visits. So there I was, in a resort with its private beach, pool and many other amenities, with my friends gathering around the pool area, celebrating, having fun and enjoying their holidays and while I was stuck in my hotel room, writing my reports and follow up letters! I am sure that you, as a CRA, understand this reality perfectly and no one else will!

At this point I really began to question how I organise my work. Why am I always working so much? Am I seriously choosing work over everything else in my life? And then my ambition kicked in. I decided I have to do better. But for the first time, it was geared not towards working more but instead working smarter and being better at having a life outside of work. I decided that I have to establish a healthy work life balance. As I started researching more into how I could do this, I started asking myself, can I do better planning for the next day, next week and next month? Can I schedule my site visits more strategically? Am I using the best part of the day when I’m most focused on the tasks that are the most demanding? Are there any known techniques to become more effective? Do I need to be more assertive when it comes to new allocations?

I began my journey to find answers to these questions. I found so many things that helped me to improve my productivity and find a healthy work life balance. Nowadays, I never say “I’m busy”. I only say “I’m good busy”, genuinely feeling happy about it. I never use “being busy” as an excuse not to prioritise people that are important to me.

Do you often say you’re busy while feeling quiet resentment inside? If so, I challenge you to take a step back and try to see if there are some things you can organise better in your work day. Find ways to optimise your tasks and automate repetitive actions. Trust me, once you put your mind to it, the ideas will start flowing. Let me know what you come up with!

If this resonates with you, let me know in the comments.

Have a great week!