Due to all the feedback Flair received from our blog Permission Slip to Stop & Strive, we wanted to share the backdrop and research. It appears that exhaustion and emptiness resonates with many of our readers because our task lists never get done. With always one more thing to do, we go from running errands, running the house, running the kids’ to sports and aging parents to doctor appointments, running late to meetings, that we often are lamenting why we cannot find time to go for an actual run!
This day to day busyness bleeds from corporate tasks into personal life and back, stealing our late nights and weekends to catch up on both. If only we could find one more hour … we could target a new prospect, provide in person customer resolution, spend time building into our employees and kids… one more, one more, one more… The trouble is we never get a break and our brain is constantly cluttered.
Life gets most disjointed though when we wear busyness as a badge of honor. “I am sooo busy” is a constant feeling and sentiment… but in this case, what is really being said and believed is, “I am sooo important, no one can do all of this as well as I can”. Thus the merry-go-round never stops, until you are so exhausted and empty that you drop.
I bet you agree. Flair’s proprietary “When are you at your best?” survey shows we are an overloaded society. Its’ results indicate the four areas consciously cut out of personal life to focus on career include: work out, reading, watching TV/surfing internet, and charity work. As well as 62.5% of respondents saying they have life style/relationship/faith repercussions from not turning off work when they get home at night and on weekends.
We weren’t created to live this way.
Consider Rest – Could you start your day, your week, and your year from a place of rest? We often think of rest as the reward after working. Instead, consider resting first, i.e.: not staying at the office past dinner, not overloading Sunday with tasks, not working on your vacation. This way you will have a chance to revive, play and feel more fulfilled. You will still have a strong work ethic, but by starting from a place of rest, you will be more creative, productive and purposeful and available to “say yes”.
Consider Cuts – What can you cut out of your life that is sucking your energy? Maybe it’s low buying and often complaining customers, or high drama relationships with co-workers and neighbors. How can you limit the interaction, even going as far as radically removing these energy sucks from your life?
Consider Discipline and Delegation – Having the discipline to look at the activities and relationships that energize you will give you context to “say no” when less desirable activities and invitations arise. By breaking the badge of busyness, you feel free to delegate opportunities for others to step up, be it your employees leading a meeting or your kids starting dinner for the family. You allow people to push themselves in new areas, you inspire confidence in them!
Inspiring Confidence,
