Why is "too busy" - this is the biggest lie?

Have you ever said to yourself: "I'm too busy"? "I'm too busy to meet this person"? "I'm too busy to take care of my health"? "I'm too busy to learn a foreign language"? Perhaps you even told yourself that you are now "too busy" to celebrate something. Many have spoken this lie more than once.

In a world of rapid changes, endless access to any information, as well as countless distractions, our society has become accustomed to supporting its own employment for the sake of ... its appearance. However, there is a huge difference between activity and performance. We can be busy all our conscious lives, and at the same time not a day will not be effective. That is why the words "I am now too busy" can lead to a negative result.

We reap what we sowed

Have you ever bought a new car, and then started to notice identical cars in your city? Or, perhaps, you got a dog, and after that began to pay attention to all the pets of this breed?

This does not mean that the manufacturers of your car suddenly decided to release more models in your city, or that the dog population suddenly grew. This means that your reticular activation system has started working. In order not to bore you with scientific details, it can be said that this is an automatic mechanism inside your brain that tells you what you need to pay attention to, and what not. Think of it as a filter for the brain.

Although the name of this mechanism does not sound very interesting, it is an important part of the brain. It is he who determines how we think - consciously or subconsciously. One of the greatest examples of this mechanism in work is the case when Roger Bannister ran a mile in four minutes in 1954, although at that time it was considered impossible. A year after he broke the record, more than a dozen people could repeat it, including high school students.

How is the brain controlled?

The reason for this mechanism is that there are two ways to control our brain.

• Conscious management is the deliberate setting of goals, affirmations and their visualization. We can create a filter that will allow our brain to focus on what will help us get closer to the goal.
• Subconscious control. When you tell yourself that you do not have time, the brain tries to find all the reasons to explain that you do not really have it.

Since our brain ultimately believes in what we say to it, the message of excessive employment becomes a kind of prophecy.

Being busy does not mean being productive

Many of us make great efforts to finish our list of cases for a week. And only when you take a step back to look around, you realize that there are only a few cases on this list that really affect your goals.

So, let's talk about the key differences between employment and productivity.

• Busy people have many priorities, productive - a few big ones.
• Busy people focus on action, the productive focus on clarity, before acting.
• Busy people try to complete all the business at the same time, the productive focus on only one task.
• Employed people respond to incoming messages right away, the productive ones allocate for this a certain time to deal with them at a time.
• Busy people say that they do not have time, productive people use it for really important things.

The truth is that we all have time for everything, everything: families, learning a new language, a gym, cooking healthy food. We just can not do whatever we want.

Law 20/80

We also need to consider the Pareto law: of all that we do in our lives, only 20% leads to 80% of the desired results.

This means that if you:

• Learn a new language - focus on one solution that will bring you 80% of the desired result (that is, achieving fluency in the conversation).
• Build a business - focus on several vital functions that will provide 80% of your customers' satisfaction.
• Bring your body into shape - focus on a few exercises that will train 80% of your body.

But how to make this strategy work? Try to ask yourself just one simple question ...

What is most important for you?

In the best-selling book One-Thing, Gary Keller describes it as what you should do, and after that all the other things will be unimportant or unnecessary. You can apply this concept to business life, relationships, physical health, finances, etc. It may seem that this is one of the most difficult questions that you must put yourself. In fact, you force yourself to say there are no good opportunities, but by that you are freeing up space for those who can change your life. Sometimes the lines between them are blurred, but asking yourself the right question, you will cease to be "too busy," and begin to act productively.

Finally

Ask yourself: do you say yes to too many things that you encounter in your life? Or are there too many people who are not so important to you? If so, it may be time to change your priorities and activities. For the rest of the day or, if you can, weeks, try to determine if the most important thing is what's happening to you. If the answer is no, then move on. Remember that if you do not answer something mediocre, you open up opportunities for extraordinary events in your life.