Priorities and Busyness

When we're using the phrase, “I don't have time” we have entered busyness mode.

That's not the same as productive mode.

In fact, it's the antithesis of being productive. Busyness is just motion, it doesn't mean that it is getting you anywhere. It's just frantic motion.

Try this on for size instead. “That is not a priority to me right now.”

Because that is what you're saying. That's not a priority for me right now. So then balance that against what you just said, you don't have time for. “I don't have time to take my kids to the park.” Do you find yourself saying that every day very often?

If so, it's not that you don't have time. It's that it's not a priority. This is not a judgement zone. I am bringing this to you this week because this is something I'm struggling with. This is something that I'm working on right now. This whole ‘I don't have time’ phrase. Just try it on. Say it right now. I

‘ don't have time to and then fill in the blank or I don't have time for’ and fill in the blank. How does it make you feel? Take some time?

How does it make you feel frantic inside your heart race a little bit more? Do your hands start to sweat does it throw you into a hot flash? I don't have time. How does it make you feel? Probably pretty anxious. Probably pretty down on yourself. ‘I don't know have time for and fill in the blank’ brings us into a state of lack. It brings us into a mindset of I don't have enough, I don't have enough time, I don't have enough money, I don't have enough resource, I don't have enough friends, I don't have enough family.

To shift that mindset, we're going to use this phrase, this is not a priority for me right now. And then we're going to weigh that against your life. Sometimes the things that we're saying that we don't have time for, that are really that they're not a priority are things that we need to have as a priority in our lives.

I used to come back to my office every single evening after dinner, instead of spending time with my husband and my mom who was then living with us before she passed away. I don't have time, I need to get down there and get this this and this time, and then I'll be back up because when I came back up after my mom was in bed, when Gabe was heading up for bed, and miss the entire evening.

When I instead started to say it's not a priority for me, it smacked me in the face. Because of my family is not a priority for me, then there is something very out of harmony in my life. If I need to be in my office working from sunup to sundown, my priorities are not in the right place. Instead, I am letting time drive the train and the train is going off the rails. And it is the same in your life. If you use this phrase, that is not a priority for me, it is going to smack you into harmony. It's gonna get you thinking. Is this something that needs to be a priority for me right now? Maybe it isn't. Maybe it is.

I'm going to finish this project, I have a cut off time. And then I will be back to do this with the family. That's harmony. But most of us many of us keep using this phrase, ‘I don't have time’ in order to keep ourselves in this motion of busyness which isn't getting us anywhere.

When you use this phrase, ‘that's not a priority for me right now’, that will get you thinking that gets me thinking. Is this something that needs to be a priority? How can I make it a priority? What are the changes I need to make in my life in order to make a priority the things that are truly a priority.

Recently, I woke up with a urinary tract infection. I went online good RX got my prescription called in and I thought you know what, I'm just going to take this, I'm going to take the first dose and I'm going to push through the day. My body was screaming for rest screaming for rest. You see, I'd been ignoring it for a few days. So by the time I finally paid attention and made it a priority in my life to take care of it, my body was rundown. So I would say did I have time to take an entire day off from work? No. But I did make it a priority. And when I made it a priority, my body thanked me by waking up Saturday ready to go. When we get into this, this energy of I don't have time and busyness we stop taking care of ourselves and those around us. That is a fact. Busyness is not a great place to live.

Productive priorities is a great place to live.

So let's talk about some reasons why you shouldn't be so proud of being busy that you never have time.

That's where we start using this phrase I don't have time is when we're in this, this tornado of busyness, this, this horrible vortex of busyness which eventually is going to spit us out that little funnel at the bottom into a pool of deep water and we're not going to be able to move. So let's talk about some reasons why busyness or I don't have time is not good.

When you are in this ‘I don't have time busyness’, frantic energy, you aren't present.

You cannot be present in the moment because your mind is off on the things you quote unquote should be doing. You're shooting all over yourself. And you're not present in the moment. You're not present in the things that matter. If you are having dinner with your family, have dinner with your family phones down, no, no email, no picking up phone calls, be present with your family. And if you're eating by yourself, be present with yourself. You don't need to always be doing something you have nothing to prove to anyone. You're already fabulous. You're already amazing. You're already fantastic. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. Be present. And when you're busy, you can't be present. When you are in this busy mode, you opt out of opportunities because you don't see them.

Opportunities are everywhere, everywhere.

But when you're in a busy mindset, you miss the opportunities because they look like distractions to you. You stopped growing, you stopped advancing, you're just staying in movement mode. You're missing the opportunities. You're also confusing motion for progress.

Busyness is not progress.

You might be moving all day, but making no strides forward. It's like you are on a treadmill, walking, walking and walking and getting absolutely nowhere, like sitting in a rocking chair of constant motion, but your chair stays in the same place. You can't prioritize effectively. Because you're busy, you're not setting priorities. Priorities are how we separate the things we need to do versus the ones we should. Priorities keep us in line.

But when we are, ‘too busy’, everything seems like it needs to be done everything but it doesn't. You can offload some things you can let some things go. Set your priorities for the day, and focus on them. Being too busy is not a metal, it's not something you want to be proud of. Because when you are too busy, your vision is blurry. You can't see the things right in front of you because you're just in this frantic energy. And you also don't make time for doing nothing. And listen, the most successful people in the world take time to actively not do a thing. These are periods of time to think strategize and re focus. The most successful people in the world take time to not do anything. You don't have to be doing anything while you're eating a meal except paying attention to the people around you thinking letting your mind wander.

You are sacrificing consistency.

When you stay in busy mode. You neglect to set boundaries. You see we're always hearing text messages come in right email status updates, tweets. Most of them can be dealt with later or let's be honest, not at all. answering email isn't your job. It's a function in the role that you have. Make a distinct time to check your email a distinct time to check your Instagram. Set your boundaries. Busyness is not serving you. You're emotionally unavailable when you're busy. Because you think you're you're thinking you're moving forward, but you're not. And then you get to the end of the day and you're even more frantic because you were busy all day, but you got nowhere. You can't dream when you're busy all the time. And the dreams are what fuel you without your without the time to dream. For example, doing nothing.

Your passion and drive won't be sustained long enough for you to actualize the dream. You put your health in danger. When you're busy, you put your health in danger, I waited to go and get help for this urinary tract infection. I've had paella nephritis one time and I have one kidney. This is a dangerous thing to do. You neglect your health. How many times be honest with yourself, have you neglected your health because you're quote unquote too busy. You don't move your body. You don't lift your weights, you don't work out you don't take the walk, you don't drink your water, you don't choose healthy meals. You're putting your health in danger. being constantly busy, triggers chronic chronic stress. And that leads to a whole host of issues that you don't want. And lastly, when you're busy you forget your why you forget why you're even doing what you do. Because your brain doesn't have time to think dream do nothing. And so you forget your why it's a trap.

Busyness is a trap.

Instead of being busy set your priorities each day in my journal at the top, there is one there is a little box and it says one thing, one thing, what is the one thing I am focusing on today. That one thing is the first thing I tackle first thing in the morning. One thing if I finished that one thing, I will put another thing in the box and so on and so on. But there is always one task that is pushing me towards my dreams and goals that I will focus on that day. So the phone doesn't get picked up. I'm not checking my Instagram feed. I post my coffee in the morning. It's my ‘Hey, good morning’. I'm here, but I'm not scrolling Instagram. I'm not scrolling Facebook. I'm reading. I'm reading great books. or I'm listening to a book or I'm out for a walk, or I'm working out, but I am doing something that is actively taking care of me. You see, I am listening to a book right now. That is really challenging the concept of time and how long we live. And so right now, I am planning to live to 125 years old, actively working, not just laying around, but actively doing what I love to do. And because of that, I have a whole lot of years ahead of me. So I don't want to just run around busy. I want to set my priorities and have the most amazing life that could possibly happen. Because I'm not planning on leaving this Earth anytime soon. So I'm not going to run around and be busy and waste my time. I am going to set my priorities and and treat my time, like the commodity it is. Think of it this way, would you would you sit out on your front porch in the morning and just start throwing $100 bills out into the grass and let anybody pick it up? Anybody can have, hey, you're calling in the neighbors? Hey, everybody, I got money on the lawn. It's yours. You wouldn't do that. But how many times do we do that with our time we opened up our calendar, we think we're going to have a great day. And then we start letting everything take over. And we get busier and busier and busier. And we have in essence, given away our time, we've given away our $100 bills, because we didn't set our priorities. And we didn't choose boundaries and priorities over busyness, you're not too busy. You simply haven't set your priorities and you simply have not set your boundaries.

I challenge you to do that today.

Let's work on this together.

Journal Prompt:

If I was not too busy, my priorities would look like and fill in the blank. “If I was not too busy…….” I would set my time by making priorities fill in the blank, what are your priorities? What are your priorities?