The holiday season is in full swing and for many of us that means cramming in shopping, visits with relatives and loved ones (not always one and the same) and trying to keep our sanity, all while working our usual 40+ hours a week. But, here is a thought. Are we in business or busyness?
At Orange Leaf Consulting we do many things for a variety of clients in many different industries, but one of the things we love doing the most, is to go into organizations and help them identify opportunities for and create efficiencies around their sales processes, so that they can GROW BIG! Increase revenues, grow clients, and diversify revenue streams…all of these things in the name of efficiency and improvement on time invested. Ah, time, the most elusive of non-renewable resources. Once spent, a minute can never be regained. One thing we consistently observe is how busy people are, but are they always productive? We have found that no, sadly and probably frustratingly to them, they are not. There is always a lot of work to be done, but we can always identify ways to be more efficient…ways to spend your time more wisely.
Go out and ask 10 people today how they are. Odds are, at least nine of them will answer with some indication of how busy they are. When did “busy” become such a badge of honor? Does the alternative have to insinuate that they are lazy? What’s worse, at work, are you expendable if you’re not perceived as being “busy?” How much work do people create for themselves, and why is being busy such an accomplishment anyway? Why isn’t being efficient and managing your time wisely more important? Clearly, there are many more questions than answers to this conundrum.
Busy isn’t good. Even science says so. Being busy does not allow your brain any downtime to rejuvenate or be creative. Remember when you were a kid and you were bored. You invented things to do, right? Building rocket ships, forts, castles, etc. You invented. Your brain was spurred into action because of the downtime. Can you think about the last time you were bored? Doesn’t really happen that often does it? At the merest hint of boredom, most people immediately whip out their phones to check email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you name it. OMG, what if we didn’t do that! What if we allowed our brain some downtime? What if we stopped the busyness train, and got off!?
To wrap it up (holiday pun intended), we want to invite you to slow down this holiday season and make it a productive time…not just a busy one.
Happy Holidays to you and yours!