THE LIFESTYLE ENTREPRENEUR

Read time - 2 minutes

Removing Busyness

Busyness is one of the biggest traps of the modern age. My generation and the generations behind me were raised to think busy was productive, and we’re collectively overworked, overweight, underslept, distracted, and unhappy.

Greg McKeown writes in his classic book “Essentialism”:

“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will”

In his book he outlines this problem beautifully, and lays out a framework for living life according to the mantra - “less, but better”

(I’d highly recommend reading Essentialism - it changed my life)

I fell into the busyness trap during multiple periods of life - most notably when building my companies. Lacking wisdom that comes through experience, I simply thought doing more would yield better results over time.

While I did learn to effectively delegate as my companies grew - instead of elevating my work to higher level, more focused work - I often added more projects and tasks to my plate to keep it overflowing at all times.

This constant seeking for more didn’t work for me - I developed extreme anxiety and burnout, got divorced, and one of my businesses failed.

Rock bottom for me was six years ago - and since then I’ve rebuilt myself in every single way. Including building a deliberate lifestyle that regularly evaluates where I’m spending my time and allows me to say no to most things, while focusing my full self on what I’m committed to.

I think I could write a book on this topic given all the work I’ve done, and continue to do, to remove busyness from my life - but for a 2-3 minute read I’ll call out three tools I use daily and weekly to help.

Three tools to remove busyness - Listed in order of mastery

1. Mindfulness - I’ve studied and practice mindfulness since that period of hitting rock bottom. For me it was triggered by reading “Waking Up” by Sam Harris - an excellent book that made meditation something I could wrap my head around (highly recommended book).

   Definition - Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present in a given moment.

   Meditation is one tool to practice mindfulness. Make sense?

   Other tools I use every day to practice mindfulness:

   1. Mediation using a guided app

   2. Reading fiction

   3. Walks and hikes without listening to things

   4. Exercise

   5. Sauna/cold plunge

   6. Playing with my younger kids

   7. Dancing

   That’s a 5 second list, I’m sure there are more activities I do to increase my mindfulness. Simply put - any activity done without distractions to help you focus on the present will improve mindfulness.

2. Planning out days and weeks - Simple week and daily planning can dramatically improve your focus, productivity, and reduce the feeling of busyness in life.

   I should probably add quarters and years as well - because prioritizing the longer blocks is extremely helpful as well, but I’ll focus on the week/days.

   There are many ways to do this, mine is extremely simple:

   1. Weekly - Takes 5 minutes

      1. Did I complete last week’s goals? Y/N

      2. Score last week 1-10

      3. What would have made the week better?

      4. 3 priorities for the week

      5. Highlight of last week

   2. Daily - Done in the morning

      1. 3 things I’m grateful for

      2. Story from yesterday

      3. Score yesterday 1-10

      4. What felt good/bad about the day?

      5. How I’m feeling today 1-10

      6. Why not a 10?

      7. Did I complete yesterday’s priorities? Y/N

      8. 3 things to make today great

      9. Affirmation (e.g. I am a badass)

   This simple daily ritual has a profound effect on how my day goes.

   1. I start with gratitude which changes my brain chemistry to the positive.

   2. I reflect on the previous day and write a story down, which makes time slow down and also creates a log of my life I can review

   3. I reflect on how the day went and what I could have improved

   4. I create my priorities for the day

   5. I make a kind statement about myself which helps my confidence and self worth

   The result is a more focused, more positive, and more productive day. Every time.

   I don’t do detailed to-do lists - if I list my top 3 priorities for the day, and I know my overall priorities for the quarter and year, the little to-do’s will just get done magically.

3. Clarity breaks - This is an EOS® tool which simply means taking 1 hour periodically to sit uninterrupted and think about my life and business, while journaling and writing my thoughts as they come.

   This is the hardest for me to do and I’m currently at about 50% compliance in a given month, but it’s effects are profound.

   We race through our days so fast that we rarely pause to reflect and allow our thoughts to catchup. The clarity break allows this.

   To do a clarity break:

   1. Find a quiet, comfortable space where you won’t be interrupted or distracted.

   2. Have your favorite writing device - notebook, pad an paper, writing tablet, whatever (not a keyboard)

   3. Use a few thought starters, here are a few good ones:

      1. What’s working and not working in my business or life?

      2. What am I avoiding that needs my attention?

      3. Where am I needed most as a leader?

      4. If I could accomplish one thing this week, what would move the needle most?

   1 hour a week is the gold standard - start with 30 minutes, and go from there.

Bringing it together

Getting less busy requires learning to say no to most things. That’s really difficult, but it gets easier when you know what your priorities are, are less distracted, and are able to be present and enjoy the moments that make up our actual lives.

Which one of these can you try this weekend? Each one will take less than an hour - I’m looking forward to getting in a few myself.

Talk to you next week,

Mike