One of the first things I frequently hear from clients, when we check-in at the beginning of a session, is they’re busy. I ask whether it’s ‘good busy’ or ‘bad busy’? “What’s the difference?” they ask.
It’s usually pretty easy to tell, from the tone of their voice and what comes next. Often we can be busy being busy but not actually being productive.
Getting to the end of the day and wondering what exactly you were busy doing.
Good busy is:
- focused on doing good work
- being productive
- working on high priority tasks
- not wasting time on less important tasks.
You feel the buzz of being busy, you’re motivated and in the flow and you have plenty of clients and customers to work with. Nothing phases you and everything gets managed, prioritised and slotted in. You get to the end of the day with a sense of accomplishment when you see how much you’ve done.
Bad busy is:
- feeling overloaded
- have too much to do
- too many people making demands on your time
- rushing around from one thing to the next
- not being productive
You feel disorganised, overwhelmed and you’re chasing your tail. You feel pressured into working late and giving up your weekends to get everything done. You’re constantly trying to catch up and feeling stressed.
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