Before Covid (BC), I used to drive into work. The People Lab HQ in Hastings is only 2 miles from my house. But I was always too busy, in too much of a rush, to commit the time to walk – 40 mins vs 10 mins, I convinced myself I needed that extra 30 mins. On the days I was working from the office I would drive the short journey, and pay stupid prices to park my car. When we first locked-down I decided I didn’t need my car, and haven’t yet replaced it. Which meant of course when it was time for me to go back to my office I had to walk.
And what a revelation it has been! I get to meander through a beautiful park onto the seafront, then continue along the promenade, taking in sea view along the way. I plug in my headphones and select a playlist to accompany me, and arrive at work feeling ready for my day. Often the walk takes me an hour, not because I’m really slow, but because I bump into people and stop for a chat, along the way. And on the way home the walk gives me some precious decompression time, as I breathe in the sea air and put work down for the day. In short, I absolutely love it and can’t believe it took a global pandemic to help me see that this is a really good use of my time.
I’m know I’m not alone in my membership of the “I’m so busy” club. A few years ago we were working with a well-known brand to help them develop, and embed a new approach to performance development. We worked with them to design a new approach based on the principles of growth mindset. The new approach needed a coaching mindset and approach, and it needed managers and teams to carve out time to have genuine conversations about development rather than a prescription, tick-box approach which had been in place previously. But as we began to prototype the new approach, we made a critical observation – that managers were always ‘too busy’.
They were too busy for a 30 minute call with us to talk through the approach, they were too busy to attend a 90-minute workshop, and they were definitely too busy to read emails or attachments. And not only that, they wore their busy-ness with pride. On asking anyone how they were doing, or what they were up to, the answer always began with an explanation of how busy they were. So this is where we focused, on changing this mindset and culture trait.
Often, what we are really saying when we’re too busy is “ this isn’t a priority for me”. We only have a finite amount of time, and a lot going on, so of course we need to be clear about how we will spend that time. But the evidence says that we can be much smarter about the way we use our time.
We’ve talked recently about the growing body of evidence for a four day week, and that despite the reduced hours, productivity doesn’t take a hit. But I think equally, we need to stop wearing our busy-ness as a badge of pride.
As a recovering “I’m so busy” addict, I’m making progress. My walk to work is now non-negotiable, and has been a good learning experience for me – those extra 30 mins weren’t as vital as I thought.
I’d love to know what you think – are you a paid up member of the “I’m so busy” club or are you taking a different approach these days?
