Are you too busy?

Busy is good. Busy means I’m making a difference and performing well.

This belief is hardwired into me. In my career as a leader in the corporate world, the higher I rose through the ranks, the fuller my diary got. And the more important I felt. That is the truth. It's not comfortable to admit it, but there it is.

What I know now is that for me, and for many of the leaders I work with, ‘doing more’ usually leads to less impact. By chasing the outcome and running at high speed all the time, we are not able to access parts of ourselves that have the innovative, creative answers to the bigger more complex questions the world needs us to solve. It is a scientifically proven fact.

My life often feels rammed. I am running from meeting to meeting a lot of the time. Producing. Doing. Ticking things off my list. And the list never gets any shorter. When I have a coaching day, I purposefully slow down, and that's when I know I'm at my best. And then when it's over...off I go again...And don’t even get me started on all the stuff going on in my home life.

It feels relentless and I am longing to create a life that feels different to this. 

Lately I have been experimenting with building in more unscheduled time. I call these my ‘do what the hell I feel like’ days. At first it felt weird and wrong.  Like I was skiving. I would be lured into doing things I thought I should do to 'catch up.’ Rather than allowing the slowing down I was yearning for.

But I stuck with it and practiced not giving in to the urge to ‘do'. And what started to happen amazed me. I would go for a walk in the countryside, and ideas for my writing would appear out of nowhere. I would write what came up on my phone and then when I got home, if it felt like I wanted to, I would share my thoughts on social media. That opened all kinds of wonderful new connections and opportunities and has given me inspiration for where I want to take my business and my leadership. 

Today I made a bold decision that means I will free up 5 days a month in 2020. It also means that particular client won’t be paying me. Gulp.  And I KNOW that having more space will inevitably grow the impact I am able to have through my work. 

If you’re reading this, you likely work in a job where it feels like you don't have enough time for the projects you most want to be working on. Maybe you feel like you’re running meeting to meeting and it is impossible to find the space you want and need. Blocking out a whole day each week where you do not take any meetings may feel outrageous. Yes. I get it. It did to me too.

I DARE you to look again. Try blocking out some time for you, your growth, your longer-term thinking in your role. Start with something bold - like a whole day. Experiment. See how far you can take it until you think you might get into trouble (have you read my blog on breaking the rules?!). Yep that's right. And who knows, the results you create may be so totally awesome that your boss may want more of the same. Or you may get promoted.  Taking this leap of faith I feel like I have promoted myself. Come join me!

I’m going to stop egging you on now and finish with this:

We can think we cannot possibly slow down, because everyone around us is running so fast. It is easy to believe that if we slow down we will fall behind. But in fact the opposite is true most of the time. The most successful leaders in the world, the ones who are solving the worlds biggest problems, all build in time for themselves to slow down. Time for thinking. Being with themselves. Allowing their genius to rise to the surface. Our genius cannot be heard if it is constantly smothered by a busy to do list.

It is very easy to feel like we are slacking. But in giving ourselves time we are taking a stand for accessing our deeper creativity. and longer-term thinking. It is radical act in a world addicting to doing. And it’s necessary if we are to have the impact we want to have.

What does this blog bring up for you? Email me at claire@clairemackinnon.com with your questions, comments and reflections. I reply to every email and would love to hear from you.

Like this post? Sign up here to receive weekly inspiration straight to your inbox.