When Busyness Gets In The Way Of Business

You probably have a lot of things you’d like to do. If you’re like me, your calendar gets filled up pretty quickly. I’m learning that busyness is not the same thing as business. If I spend too much time on the first one, I don’t get much time to work on the last one. You ever feel like that?

I am a big fan of lists. I am a Mac guy and use the app, Things (on my phone and laptop). It turns me into a to-do list ninja. Unfortunately, writing something down on a list doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to get done.

Looking through all of my lists can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to do. There’s a lot I want to do. When that overwhelming feeling strikes, I can feel a little lost. I’m not sure where to start. I find myself just staring at the mountain of tasks in my lists.

So I change the paradigm. I take my eye off the tasks and turn my attention to the time.

I tell myself to simply focus on the next 15 minutes.

  1. Select a top priority task.
  2. Set the timer on my phone or laptop.
  3. Put my head down and get to work.

When the tasks seem overwhelming, change your focus to the time. The only thing that’s going to make you feel better is action. Going hard (on anything) for 15 minutes will change the dynamic and give you momentum in the right direction. When the timer goes off, you’ll feel much different than you did 15 minutes ago.

Try it. Let me know how it works.

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