Is it me, or is the world going crazy … crazy busy?
One of the most popular responses when you ask someone how work or family is going has become: “Crazy busy.” It’s treated almost like a badge of honor in today’s working world.
Technological advances are wonderful, and we’re all grateful for tools that make work and personal life easier. But are these tools actually helping us be more effective and efficient? Do they really buy us more leisure time?
Employees seem more distracted, fragmented and stressed than ever. Few seem on top of their workload; most are constantly scrambling, running late, and working longer hours — often taking tasks home on evenings and weekends. Is it any surprise that few people seem truly joyful in their personal lives? Technology often just brings the next task faster — a dilemma sociologists call the “boomerang effect.”
I’ve found that truly effective people invest time to define their life roles, identify their highest priorities within those roles, and plan weekly and daily to achieve them. They maintain balance between work responsibilities and home commitments by managing their energy throughout the day. They also intentionally work to master email, phone use, interruptions, procrastination and meetings — the five time thieves I’ve written about previously. In short, they manage technology rather than allowing technology to manage them.
Conversely, employees who constantly rely on the “crazy busy” response often operate in the exact opposite way. It’s as if they derive their identity from busy-ness. I often get the sense that some prefer to keep running — and running faster — rather than pause to think about where they’re heading. Aldous Huxley highlighted this aspect of the human condition when he noted, “They intoxicate themselves with busy-ness so they don’t see who they really are.”
Intriguingly, in the Chinese language, the characters for “busy-ness” combine to mean “death of the heart.” When we run around telling everyone how busy we are, could we implicitly be saying “death of the heart”?
If you’ve had an intense day, instead of saying “I’m crazy busy,” consider saying, “I’ve had a full-on day” or “I’ve had a very challenging day.” You’re still being truthful, but whereas the former sounds like you’re drowning, the latter sounds like you’re in command and ready to re-engage after a good night’s rest.
Trite you may say, but I encourage you guard your internal soundtrack — as the Good Book says, “As a person thinks, so are they.”
Some employees seem to believe constant movement equals job security, operating under the mindset: “I’ve got to look busy or I might get laid off.” But when did you last hear a colleague say they were fully on top of their tasks? Responding with “crazy busy” might make someone feel important, but it doesn’t serve them, their team, or their customers well.
Consider this insightful quote: “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.”
During my time as a regional finance director for Hilton and Marriott hotels in Western Europe through periods of restructuring and downsizing, we never wanted to let go of truly effective people. Employees with a reputation for getting things done were like gold dust. We protected the jobs of leaders who led well and consistently achieved their highest priorities.
So, take control of your workload. Be clear on your highest priorities at work, and seek clarity from your supervisor if needed. Build a reputation for delivering results. Refuse to fall into the “crazy busy” language trap. Use planning and prioritization techniques to tackle the five time thieves, and make sure you manage technology instead of letting it manage you.
Take care to ensure your busy-ness doesn’t distract you from what’s truly important both at work as well as home. For as John Lennon wistfully sang, “Life is what happens to you while we’re busy making other plans.”
Paul Butler is a Santa Clarita resident and a client partner with Newleaf Training and Development of Valencia (newleaftd.com). For questions or comments, email Butler at [email protected].
