Hello April, you seemed to crept by rather quietly. Or maybe it was me, wrapped up in my own cocoon of busyness and becoming oblivious to the passing of time. Busy times can turn us into modern day zombies if not kept in check. Eat, work, sleep, repeat.
Despite taking a social media sabbatical, I’ve been very busy behind the scenes. In fact, there were times when my days seemed to become one endless to-do list. It’s all for very good reasons, my business is growing and I’ve had more work coming my way, but at the back of my mind the nagging concern remained that life is for living and, as regular readers know, time freedom is very important to me.
However, I’m also aware that I have a very contradictory aspect of myself that prides itself on being busy. And it is for that reason, I decided that my aim for April’s Year of Letting Go challenge is to let go of busyness.
The difference between productivity and being busy
Firstly, I think it’s important to clarify that productivity and busyness are not the same. In fact, we can spend so much of our time being busy that we are not productive at all.
For example, it’s easy to fill a day with cleaning and ‘pottering’ around the house, whilst simultaneously avoiding what needs to be done to move you closer to your current goal (whether that be work or life related). This is a behaviour that I am inclined towards. Instead of taking the next step towards my goals, I’ll suddenly decide to go on a cleaning frenzy. Does that sound familiar?
So what is productivity? For me being productive is doing the next thing that needs to be done to move me towards a goal or aspiration. It’s about figuring out a way to work smarter, by being more time efficient or considering an easier route, to get towards my destination. Sometimes it’s just putting in the hard work, by taking one consistent step at a time.
Being busy, on the other hand, is allowing the little things to eat into your time. You end up working harder because you’re spending too much time focusing on the things that don’t matter.
Life admin overload
I’ve been trying to do everything recently. I thought I could handle it by being ultra-organised and keeping a to-do list. Now I confess, I’m a list lover, but in this instance it didn’t work. I watched in horror as I’d cross something off my to-do list, only to add more items to it.
The ever expanding to-do list – what a nightmare! And I suspect that many of you who are reading this have experienced something similar.
But what I’ve found is that by trying to do everything, I’ve done nothing particularly well. And I’ve also had very little time to enjoy the things I love. So it’s time to hit pause and gently let go of busyness.
Letting go of busyness
In my attempt to let go of busyness, I decided that I needed to let go of all those ‘to-do’s’ and ‘shoulds’ that lurk constantly in the background. One way to do that was to scrap my to-do list, well, not scrap it exactly but reframe it.
Instead of having a huge list for the day, I limited my list to three things. They weren’t just any old things, there was no ‘do the laundry’ on this list. Instead, my list consisted of things that would move me closer to my goals.
My two main goals at the moment are developing my businesses and achieving financial independence. Both of these fit nicely together, which makes it easier to choose things to go on my list. On days I’m at my day job ‘work‘ becomes the main item on my list, along with a couple of easy tasks that help move my own businesses forwards.
In days gone by, I wouldn’t have even considered adding my day job to my list – despite it taking up 10 hours of the day! Then I’d have spent my evenings in a frenzy, trying to accomplish all of the other tasks I’d set myself – talk about self-sabotage.
Another thing I now do is have a firm cut-off time where I down tools and stop working. For me, it’s 7pm as this gives me a couple of hours to do the things I enjoy – read, go for a walk, watch Netflix etc before I go to bed (yep, I’m one of those early 5am risers).
Today and someday
I’ve also taken some inspiration from The Minimalists post on to-do lists and have created a someday list to run alongside my today list. This provides me a useful space to dump tasks, ideas or courses that I’m unable to commit to in the moment.
It’s a place where I can effectively store the things that capture my attention and prevent them from side-tracking me during the day. And I’ve found that many of the shiny things don’t seem so shiny after a few days, so I remove them from my list, creating more time and space in my life.
Making productivity a priority
So this month I’ve been trying to let go of busyness. Ironically, it’s been one of the busiest months I’ve had in years in terms of the amount of work I’ve needed to do. However, by focusing on productivity and fine tuning my priorities, I’ve managed to keep afloat and still have some down-time every day.
I’m not saying that I’ve been perfect, there have still been days when time has slipped by and I’m still working at 9pm. However, having a framework has helped me create healthier habits and release myself from my endlessto-do list.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’d recommend that you experiment with letting go of busyness. Focus on productivity, identify your top three prioroities for the day, create a someday list for those things that threaten to distract you and commit to a set time every day when you’ll unwind and relax.
If that feels like too much, then just commit to making one small change. Do it until it’s become a habit and then add something else.
It can be hard to let go in a world that encourages us to be constantly switched on. But one day at a time, I’m slowly letting go of busyness and taking another step towards a more fulfilling life.
Image courtesy of Emma Matthews on Unsplash.