BEING BUSY IS AN EXCUSE

How to avoid being over engaged but under productive with no excuse

When last did you evaluate the progress you have made on your goals?

What is that one thing that you wanted to do this year and have not done it yet? What prevented you from doing it?

Which areas have caused a leakage in your life or what are the greatest time wasters?

Have you ever wondered how some people seem to be able to get so much done and you have very little to show?

Often times we underestimate how capable we are and over exaggerate how busy we are. If not, we let everyone look at us as though we are busy people, and yet those who really get much things done, don’t complain about the things that you may be complaining about. Including the over stated “I am tired” phrase.

So today I want you to really think about your goals, your projects, your family, your career, your health and try to see where have you robbed yourself or sold yourself short in the name of being busy.

Debbie Millman, a writer and artist said “being busy is an excuse. Its also a decision. It’s a sign that you value certain things over others. It may be sex, sleeping, overindulgence in food, watching movies or sitcoms, sports or games, etc”.

At work, we have people who often appear very busy because they are always visible in meetings, talk a lot, or even running around all over the place. At the end of the day, ask them what have they achieved, DOLOLO. What will make you successful at work is not being in the premises, but being in the workstation and doing what ought to be done… not running around.  And what will enable you to do what you’ve always wanted to do, is doing it! not making excuses.

Definitions

To be busy means to be actively involved in an effort geared towards accomplishing something in such a way that you are not free to do something else.

So people who often achieve less than they are capable are often “too busy” doing things of less value and shying away from the actual truth or realities.. while those who achieve a lot have beaten the excuses KO.

Excuses

Excuses are rationalisations we make to ourselves about people, events, and circumstances. They are invented reasons we create to defend our weak behaviour, to postpone taking action or simply as a means of neglecting responsibility. Often it’s a way of putting a blame of the existence of an internal problem on an external condition.

Why do people make excuses?

•  Fear of failure
• Fear of embarrassment
• Uncertainty over what change brings to their life
• Fear of making mistakes
• Fear and inability to take responsibility for their lives
• Perceived lack of confidence, resources or skills. Often all these are illusions
• Its comforting. Sometimes people use it to seek sympathy

The most common excuses that people make

• I don’t have time. Or have not had the time.  But you spend 2 hours a day on whats-app and Facebook while watching TV (sports, news, movies and sitcoms) for two to three hours. But you don’t have enough time.

An average poor person watches TV 3-4 hours a day. That is about 2 months a year. and you sleep 6-8 hours a day (3 months). Meaning that an average poor person spends almost 5 months sleeping per year. you only live half a year. and taking time to go to work, bathing, cooking… you practically just existing. At the end of the year, they are tired because they were busy.

•  I was not trained for this or I do not have experience. Sometimes this is the lame excuses that people make to avoid doing something higher than their comfort zone.

If I ask you to jump over a fence with mash wire or jump down from a single floor rooftop. You will call me nuts. But if someone can point a gun at you, you’d do it without thought. you can run through fast traffic on foot and not be hit by a car.  Look, you know what you know because you were exposed to it. Lorraine Osman, Head of Public affairs of Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa taught me something powerful this past Saturday, she said: SITUATIONS DEVELOP NEW LEADERS.  

Situations bring you skills. Jump in an learn in the process. Carrel Motshega, a very audacious and successful entrepreneur, when I asked him about his success in business said “I fake it till I make it”!

• I have nothing to show for it. I’ve used this excuse sometime. Its very depressing. When you want to do something and stop yourself from pursuing it because you think the world wants to see what you’ve got. And the people, well, of course may want you to show something, but that does not stop you from doing it.

I hosted a seminar last year on Financial Freedom and invited great speakers; someone asked one of my guest speakers and said “what does Mafarafara have to even have the guts to talk about financial freedom?” I laughed.

•  I don’t have the money. Excuses that people make when they are struggling to go to school or to start a business. Or even to live the life that they want. The biggest problem about lack of money is not lack of money itself. It is the inability for one to channel energy towards a process of constantly learning to develop better solutions. People buy solutions; it matters not who is selling them. They buy solutions. Systenious Makhubele, author and speaker taught me something profound in a seminar last year that: if you do not have the money that the world needs, at least have the knowledge that the world needs.

• What will people say?  About what? People will always have something to say about anything. 

There is a story that was in the newspapers this weekend. a young lady who just completed medical school from Kwazulu Natal. She studied while doing odd jobs as a domestic worker. She said she started doing dishes when she was 16, because she had to. She went on to study medicine, now is a Doctor. Her secret: she blocked ears from people’s negative talk, kept a humble spirit and remain focused on her goal. Her domestic little pay paid for her food at school. What’s your excuse?

• What if it does not work… well, what If it works?
• I am too old or too young
• My boss hates me, or he wont like this. 
• My employees are not competent. 
• People don’t understand me
• It wont work. That is a good sign of lack of self confidence
• I need to focus on my career.  That’s what people say when they want to avoid committing to a relationship. I’ve seen very successful people in the circular world with great marriages.
• I can’t multitask.  Really? Tony Robins runs 17 successful companies with turnover of Hundreds of million Dollars that operates in many different countries. Jomo Sono, other than dealing with his soccer team, was seating on various boards of companies, including hotels, real estates and SASOL.

How do you think Ciril Ramaphosa got his business to gain him the wealth?

Look, unsuccessful people have more excuses that make them keep their problems for longer.