I’ll try to keep this one brief, since I’ve got stuff to do today.
I don’t like saying “I’m too busy” when someone invites me to something or asks me for a favor. It feels like a copout—because in a lot of ways, it is.
If have a chance to pick up a new editing job or write something or even just go out for drinks with friends, I try to think about the other things I’m currently juggling in comparison to this new opportunity. Do I really want to do this new thing, or would I rather focus on what I’m already working on?
If the new thing is exciting and/or awesome in some way, of course I’ll want to do it even if I’m incredibly drop-dead exhausted from having too much on my plate already…but if the new thing is otherwise lame or uninteresting, I try to pass on it even if I’m relatively free that week.
In the real world, though, new things fall somewhere in between: they’re somewhat exciting, important, or beneficial, and they come during weeks when I’m relatively busy, so I have to carefully weigh the new thing against what I have going on already so I don’t take on too much.
In these cases, blindly saying “I’m too busy” and avoiding the opportunity can stop you from getting involved in new, cool things, whether in your creative work, your social life, your hobbies, or even your Day Job. That’s why it pays to manage your time so you can take back as much of it as you can.
I also don’t like to use “I was too busy” in the past tense when I’ve forgotten something or didn’t do something I said I was going to. In these cases, if the thing was REALLY, for-serious important to me, I would have made the time to do it, so saying “Sorry, I was really busy last week” is just a lame excuse for not being on my game.
In the real world, of course you’re busy—everybody’s busy, and we all have a lot to take care of. But if something was really, really important, we’d make time to do it amidst everything else—or, we’d cancel things we already have going on to make room for the new, important thing.
In this sense, taking on new things isn’t about being too busy or not busy—it’s about prioritizing your life so you can spend more of your time on the things that matter to you and less time on the things that don’t.
I think about times in my life when I’ve had an overwhelming amount going on—times like when I was in grad school or when I was working two jobs while editing a book manuscript or when my last Office Day Job went into holiday overdrive. During each of these busy times I realized that I wasn’t spending time on the things I wanted to be spending my time on, so I made changes to cut out the things that weren’t working and focus more on what I wanted to be doing.
These were never overnight changes—in each case it took me a while (usually a few months) to realize there was a problem, make a plan, and then carry it out. For me personally, most of these steps involved spending less time working Day Jobs, and over the long-term, those choices seem to be working pretty well ;-)
I’ll close by saying one more time: being too busy for something isn’t an excuse, it’s a choice, and if you’re finding yourself too busy for things that you actually want to be doing, I recommend taking steps to reorganize your life so the stuff that matters to you can take priority, even if making that change takes months, or even years.
Also, don’t just say “I’ll make time to do the things I want to do when I retire,” because that’s no excuse either, and WAY too long to wait if you’re in a position you don’t want to be in. It’s your life, after all.
I’ll sum all this up in a neat list:
- Consider the things you want to be spending your time on
- Slot in the most important ones
- If you can’t slot in the most important ones right away, take steps to do it in the future
Keep it simple, stupid—and good luck.
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Just found your website, Ian, and I love it!
Thanks Carole :-)