BCG Blog

Busy Being Lazy

We all have twenty-four hours in the day, right? 
Some people just seem to get a lot more done during that time than others. I’m sure you’ve heard this story before.

I once thought the people that get the most done are the ones running around like chickens with their heads cut off going from one thing to the next without taking a breath. It made sense. The faster they moved, the more things they could get to in a day, and the more things they could check off their list.

I certainly followed suit. I know the feeling of empty pride that comes from rushing to and from activity after activity, only to look back and realize you were never really at any of them. I mean, you were there physically, but sometimes not even in the same time zone mentally.

I would love to say I can speak about this in only the past tense, but the reality is I get pulled back into this mindset often and need constant reminders that being busy doesn’t equal being productive.

Why Should We Care?
How’s this for a paradox - busy is a sign of lazy.
That’s right. Busy typically doesn’t translate to hardworking, dedicated, or committed as much as it translates to comfortable, indifferent, and wasteful.

Busyness is a sign of a lack of commitment to the important things in our life.
We try to do everything at the expense of doing something.

Knocking out menial tasks and moving to our next To-Do item does little towards fulfilling our impact and purpose in life. Our busy ways only truly expose the laziness of our thoughts. 

The thoughts that avoid the important and uncomfortable are lazy. They lead us to the quick answer, or task, but rarely the right one. 

REAL TALK - Action Steps
Nothing has to be because it always was. We choose to make it so. Change requires a conscious decision. We must DO something different in order to get something different. Rest assured, if we aren’t intentional about directing our time to the things that are most important to us, we will continue to seek comfort and do what we’ve always done. Here are a few idea for focusing on what matters:

• Have To v Get To 
  
  • You don’t HAVE TO do very many things in life. I mean, really HAVE TO do them. Pay attention to the words you use. Try saying you GET TO do some of the things that you aren’t all that excited about doing but must be done. If you can’t bring yourself to say that you GET TO do it, then eliminate it.
    

• Stop Doing List
  
  • Way, way, way more important than your To-Do List is your Stop Doing List. Spend some time reflecting and write down 3 things you want to stop doing this week. We don’t get to add time to our day for the things that matter, but we get to free up the time from the things that don’t. 
    

• I Don’t Have Time
  
  • Stop saying “I don’t have time” and replace it with “I lack the discipline to manage my time in such a way that prioritizes what is important to me" or "It's just not that important."
    

Certainty gives birth to speed. When we know what matters to us, the things that aren’t important become clear and can be discarded. By eliminating the distractions of the unnecessary we are freed to commit fully to the important things in our life.

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