Banning The B Word

I can’t today.

I don’t have time.

I won’t make it…

I recently heard a wise man challenge me and my associates to ensure that we do not mistake busyness for productivity. In our Worx culture, we live to live less busy. To ensure that our answer for, “how are you?” is not busy. It’s a passive way of replying “I don’t have time for you; everything else is a priority before you.”

That’s when I realized words that once held the power of positive action, we’ve turned into negative connotations via one tiny stroke in the air. With this mark, we create contractions. I call them four-letter words.

As I was recently browsing on one of the greatest time wasters (and I say I’m too busy?) a post across the great Atlantic Ocean caught my attention:

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.'”  

-Lao Tzu

When I was younger, my brothers tried to convince me “they” [the government] were going to change time. Either they would add a day or elongate the days by hours. How would it affect us as humans? It would change our school schedule. In the negative. I almost believed them.

However, looking back I think how many times I hear myself and adults wish for more hours in a day. Because we don’t have time. Because we are too stressed. Because we are too busy.

So we can’t, we don’t and we won’t.

However, since working at Worx, I learned two invaluable practices:

Make the moments count: We must learn time isn’t about us; it’s about others. Everyone is allotted 24 hours a day no matter where his or her hour hand is. It’s not about borrowing, giving, taking, wishing away, looking back or speeding up time. It’s about sharing time.

Make the conversations intentional: Ban the apathetic four-letter words. Including the “B” word, busy. Be presumptuous. Someone at some point will be asking you, "how are you?" Prepare your answer. Assume that someone will ask for a favor or invite you to be part of his or her inner circle. Be imaginative and find a way to abstain from those pesky go-to contraction words.

Because you do have time. You just have to decide if you want to or don’t want to.

Are you going to let that tiny stroke in the air steal your action? Are you going to do or don’t?

Stop to Celebrate

Too often, we find ourselves working day-to-day, finishing to-do lists, completing a difficult task or wrapping up a huge project just to move quickly on to the next item on our list. Being busy, non-stop, hyper-productive, it feels good right?

When you think about the word “busy,” what comes to mind? Do you often use it to describe your schedule? Your workload? Your entire lifestyle? Think of using the word “busy” as the equivalent to purposely giving someone the busy signal. Describing yourself as busy can make you seem inaccessible. Instead, challenge yourself to use more accurate and positive synonyms. Below are a few examples:

- Blessed with many projects

- Fortunate to have numerous ongoing clients

- Not boring (that’s my favorite!)

Not only does it have an optimistic spin on the term “busy,” it also serves as a conversation starter. Busy feels like a door being shut; a positive phrase seems like an invitation to hear about the on-going excitement!

Within these bursts of productivity, make sure you find time (schedule it if you have to) to celebrate an accomplishment and/or milestone. Just stop for a few minutes to reflect on the success of the project. What worked? What didn’t work? What are the strengths of the project and what did you learn in the process? What will you do differently next time? What goals will it help you ultimately reach, and what recognition could this bring to you and your company?

Acknowledging your accomplishment and, ultimately, progress in your personal and career goals will help to re-motivate you to keep going. That confidence will increase your productivity so that you can continue to improve and succeed during your exciting and fulfilling schedule!