Choosing to be busy?
I’m betting you are pretty busy. Lucky guess? Not really, everyone I run into recently is busy. I feel busy too. Partly business, partly personal. It got me thinking, how much of this is a choice? How much of this is because I choose to be busy and how much is because I must be busy?
I’m working with clients that have some really great opportunities in front of them right now. And when I say “opportunities” I mean it in the plural sense, as in lots and lots and lots of great opportunities. Here at Morrison we’re evaluating a few things ourselves – all good stuff. But I sometimes return back to my office and think about the people I’m working with or about our own business, and I wonder if just because one individual situation or opportunity looks good, if that means we should go for it.
Some of you may know that I have four kids under the age of 8, so yeah, I buy a lot of diapers from Costco. But it also means that I work 16+ hour days because when I get home I’m not done, I’m just on the home stretch – the work continues. Fortunately I’m blessed to have been able to marry someone way out of my league so I’m not going at this alone, but it’s still a lot of work.
Now, I chose to have four kids (well, ok, my wife and I chose) and I choose to work at Morrison, because (and please don’t tell Brent this) I like it here. But it does make for a lot of work.
But back to how busy you are…how do we slow this down, if even just a little?
I’m going to start asking myself if some of the individual tasks/duties/jobs in my life must be done or if not being completed would somehow alter the rotation of the earth somehow creating a black hole vortex dooming all of humanity (What? Too dramatic?). Secondly, I’m going to try to set aside some time each week to do something that doesn’t feel like work. This Saturday I’m going to chop wood. Now I know that may sound a lot like work, but not to me. To me it sounds like the opposite of sitting behind my desk, going to a meeting, doing the dishes, and picking up toys. Who knows, maybe I’ll save humanity from a black hole vortex.
Now, saving humanity will probably make me pretty busy, so I could sure use some help. What sort of things can you do to re-claim a little of your life from the busyness that consumes you? Together, we can save the world!
About the Author
Geoff Chinnock is a consultant with Morrison, working primarily in our Business & Accounting Advisory practice. To get in touch with Geoff, please find contact information for Morrison here.