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The being busy trap

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Today’s walk along the road was achieved by careful timing and watching the clouds to avoid the rain. I found myself wondering about a conversation I had last week about the language we use in work situations relating to how busy we all are.  


I caught myself saying that I had ‘back to back meetings all day’ not sure if I was looking for admiration or pity. 


The fact that I could feel the uncomfortableness of the fact, combined with an annoyance with myself for getting into this situation collided and I adopted a resigned to accept it outlook. 


With the time to reflect today – I wonder how often I willingly allow myself to get into the too busy being busy mode. 


The day goes so quickly – for sure ! Some around may marvel at my revolving office door and the constant foot fall …. 


When I reflect on what I achieved during my day of meetings it is clear little or any of it could truly be called ‘deep work’ – in contrast to what is described as ‘shallow work’ – those non-productive meetings, constant interruptions and non-stop emails ‘just for information’ which force us to ‘multi-task’ which we know reduced productivity by 40%! 


Just imagine if you could increase your meaningful and impactful work by 40% just by making the space to focus on the activities that actually matter.


If you can identify with my week – This useful audit of your time is worth doing. Honestly ask yourself the following questions

 

1 - How much of your time is spent running the day to-day versus shaping the future?

 

2 - How much of your time is spent reacting to what others in the organization bring to you, rather than driving the top team’s agenda?

 

3 - How often do your strategic discussions lead you to make hard choices about your company’s future?

 

4 - How much time do you spend reviewing actions after the fact versus proactively shaping actions and a direction?

 

5 - How often do you spend time debating who is responsible for solving an issue rather than addressing it?

 

6 - How often do you and other members of the leadership team work together on issues?


Ok - time to go before the rain starts again and I have a lot to do !


https://www.cross-house.ie

 

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Comments

  1. Pilar Nogues18 March 2023 at 21:30

    Really good article and powerful questions to spend time on and answer honestly. They bring clarity and perspective to how we spend our working hours.

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