"Just Too Busy' Series - 1: Too Busy for the people that count?

In this episode, I share a personal story that marked a significant turning point in my life. I realized I was too busy for the people who mattered most, prioritizing work over family and personal relationships. This moment of clarity changed my perspective on what it means to be truly productive.

Key Insights:

The Wake-Up Call: Caught up in a design strategy project, I reacted negatively when my wife tried to show affection. This incident made me see that I was prioritizing work over my loved ones, creating unnecessary friction.

Motion vs. Movement: I prided myself on being busy, but I was focused on the wrong things. It's not about how much you do but whether you're doing the right things. This shift in mindset applies both to personal relationships and professional tasks.

People Over Tasks: Realizing that people are the most important aspect of both personal and professional life, I started to prioritize meaningful connections over simply getting things done.

This is part one of a series on the pitfalls of being overly busy. 

Stay tuned for part two, where we'll explore the addictive nature of busyness and how to shift from motion to meaningful movement.

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Transcript

0:08

Let me tell you a story. This story represents a real turning point for me in my life. I was working deep into some design strategy work that I was working on. And my, my wife came in to give me a hug. My immediate reaction was to be all grumpy, get off. I'm just working like I'm just too busy, too busy. I just need to get on with this. I can, I can help you later. She was a bit hurt by this. And I was a bit grumpy by this and it caused a bit of friction for us. And. For many, you know, many of us, maybe you just dismiss this as just something that happens, right? Maybe people shouldn't interrupt you at your desk. Maybe that's the rule. You have your kids, your kids can't come in to do that. Your partner can't come in to do that. But for me it was a turning point because I didn't want to be like that. Right. I didn't want to be that guy. Who was too obsessed by his work to not really care about his family or those around him. You know, The way you turn up in one place is how you turn up in every place. If I wasn't being great to my family, what are the personal relationships work relationships was I also not turning up properly for and what the reality. What reality dawned on me was that I was. Really focusing too much on getting things done. Versus getting the right things done or doing the right things within my life. And that was both true in terms of my relationship with my family, but also in terms of the work that I was doing, I was absolutely prioritizing motion over movement. I was doing lots of things, but not necessarily the right things. Oh, to pride myself on being extremely busy and interruptions used to make me really grumpy people always commented on how much I got done and how busy I was. But was I doing the right things? No, I was not doing the right things. And that moment really was a turning point for me, where I didn't want to be that guy who was like that. He was grumpy when somebody tried to give him some love and attention. That's not what I wanted. I wanted to be there for the important people in my life. Because that for me is my number one priority is being there for the important people in my life. And that extends right through to my family. But also obviously to the people I work with. They need me. Much more than I need to get the work done that I need to get done because let's face it. The work. I can get it done any time. The people are the most important thing in your organization and your life. So this is part one of a series where I'm gonna be talking about being busy and the badness of being busy. Next time. We're going to have a look at. Y busy busy-ness is addictive that addiction to dopamine, to adrenaline that comes from being busy over all of the time and how that. Motion over movement can really be counting against you. So stay tuned for that over the summer. Part two is coming next week.