TOW#461 — ‘Too busy’ — a modern-day phenomenon
Haven’t seen your close friends for a long time, can’t find time to read the book you bought two months ago, don’t have time to go on holiday, constantly stressed and feeling like time is steamrolling over you? How many times have you tried to agree to see a friend, but always end up postponing the meeting “for another day… I’m just too busy!”?
The universal constant that we all seem to understand nowadays is the phrase ‘too busy’. But does our lifestyle need to be predetermined by our busyness or can we do something about it in order to improve our quality of life?
Is being busy a form of competition or a status symbol? “If you’re busy, that means you’re successful!” But is this true? No. The negative sides to being overloaded are numerous: increased stress levels, inability to concentrate, sleep problems, and because you’re constantly haunted by that feeling that you’re not achieving anything you end up unhappy and unfulfilled. There’s a lot of advice out there on how to get rid of this sense of ‘over-busyness’, but here are just a few tips that I myself apply and that have helped me a lot thus far:
• Set priorities — not every task can carry the same level of importance. Set priorities and give them the attention they deserve. Furthermore, don’t forget that feeling overwhelmed is also a kind of mindset. Instead of panicking right away about all the things you have to do, look carefully at your schedule and figure out which things are most important and which tasks you need to complete immediately.
• Make a plan — it’s crucial that you make a plan to ensure that you won’t forget something. It’s best to get up in the morning 15–20 minutes earlier, and write down on a sheet of paper the most important tasks for the day. Planning is also good because it means that the control of your day and your tasks is in your hands.
• Make time for a holiday — use your holidays to go… on holiday. To achieve the best results you need to be well rested. This will always hold true no matter how ‘too-busy’ you are. Do you regularly use days off to complete another commitment and check your e-mail, or your lunch breaks to catch up on news while eating in front of the computer?
• Beware of multitasking — doing many things at once has become another feature of modern life, which on the surface seems to make us more productive, but is in fact only burdening us further.
• Say ‘No’ — since being over-busy is a construction and a way of thinking that we ourselves have created, it’s also only on us to decide whether we’ll become resigned to being too busy or we’ll create time for the things and people that matter to us. It’s best to decide for yourself whether you should continue to take the entire burden of all obligations on your shoulders or to simply say NO sometimes.
• Always have time for the things you love — life is more beautiful and richer when we socialise with the people we love and do the things that we find fulfilling. Doing so gives us additional enthusiasm and motivation to be better at everything. So, be sure to take time for the things you love and live every free moment to its fullest.
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
Elena Kiseloska
“Tip of the Week” Team member
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