When someone asks ‘how you are you?’ do you automatically respond with ‘just so busy’? These days being busy, no matter what field you are in, has become a status symbol synonymous with success. Yet lots of us are running ragged, sometimes not even getting much done, for the sake of being busy. Here’s how to get off this hyper-busy rollercoaster.
Rethink your definition of success
This means balancing your mental, emotional, and spiritual sides. In her book Thrive, Arianna Huffington identified the “third metric of success” which goes beyond the two traditional metrics of money and power and breaks it into four components: well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving. She considers lifelong learning, meditation, mindfulness, and community involvement equally as important in achieving and defining success.
Leisure time redefined
While lots of us take breaks for meals, self-care, and so on, still we are busy writing to-do lists, typing up emails, or even planning the next meal. Instead of multi-tasking and making every single minute a productive one, acknowledge your need for downtime and work on it.
Plan some time for nothing
For the “I am crazy busy” individual, the concept of doing nothing at any time of the day, including weekends, is almost frightening. Yet it is at this time that we self-reflect, breathe, and actually learn to appreciate the people and things we are surrounded by. Start slowly by incorporating 10-minutes daily into a time frame where you don’t
check your messages, don’t plan, and don’t speak on the phone. Gradually increase this time until it becomes a daily habit.