Don’t be so “busy, busy, busy” all the time !

One of my friends recently wondered how come that with all the different assignments I have on my plate, I can still show up “all smiles” and “all zen” in no time. Indeed, I am capable of just dropping urgent and important stuff, in order to pop up where the fun or excitement is. How come? It is all a matter of opportunities and priorities.

“Didn’t you have to work today?”
“Have you become a full time tourist or what?”
“Again been at that fancy restaurant?”
“Just catching the sun?”
“Where did you find the time to do etcetera etcetera, … ?”
are questions I regularly get from people I work with but whom do not know me too well. I then just smile and listen to how busy they are, and how come they cannot afford to lose a minute in their demanding schedules. All very interesting, but…

Master of our own time and priorities

Aren’t we all responsible for our own time and our own priorities? I for one, I am the master of my own time. My professional life as an entrepreneur is about handling insecurities, taking risks, seeing opportunities… and working hard wherever, whenever and for whomever I want. There’s 24 hours in a day… not eight.
In other words, I decide what I do when, and I determine the order in which I do the things I do. And this is exactly why I can afford not to be busy when something interesting pops up that I like better than what I was busy with. It is that simple. It is all about opportunities. For example, when the weather is nice, I rather disappear for a while and go outside for an inspiring healthy walk or a nice lunch and good laugh with a friend than stay inside the office and complain about having to be at my desk just because everyone else is. On the other hand, I do not mind at all having to work until late at night or sit through the night to get a job done. That just happens to be the other side of my story. That’s responsibility and commitment.

“Too busy” is an excuse or a lie

We all have time. We have time for the things we like. We free up time for the people we love. We jump at opportunities that are too tempting to resist. We do what is important to us. It is what we call priorities.

Time is a question of priorities

Always listen very carefully when people tell you they don’t have time. They actually mean they do not have time FOR YOU. They communicate about their priorities in a very subtle way. They are actually telling you very silently:
“I do not want to spend my time with you.”
“You are not a priority of mine.”
“At this moment it is not important for me to see you.”
“You are less important than whatever I am going to do instead of meeting you!”
…

I DO NOT HAVE TIME

almost always means

I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOU !

So, next time somebody tells you: “sorry, but I do not have time”, without any decent acceptable explanation (stringent deadlines do exist though), do believe them. Acknowledge that you are not important enough to them and update your own priority list accordingly, how shocking it sometimes may be.

Here’s the bottom line:

enjoy your time to the fullest
with people who see you as a priority,
and stop giving priority
to people for whom you are only an option.