Real Life Leadership Blog; Too busy to think!
‘I’m too busy to think!’
‘In my new series of real life leadership reflections, I’ll share some of the lessons from my own leadership journey. I develop other leaders, and am a leader myself. I’ll share things that I am struggling with today and how I am developing, or not! Leadership not as simple as all the books make out, I know, I wrote one of them!‘ Lucy
Post Two, June 2023
OK, a bit of honesty coming up.
I’ve got strategic planning scheduled in my diary for this afternoon. I am supposed to be working ON the business rather than IN the business. It is regularly in my diary as my Friday afternoon activity.
But am I?
Erm, no. Actually I have looked at my diary for next week and realised I have not done quite a few bits of prep that I need to do. I have client work I need to sort out. There are bills to pay. Contracts to manage. Recruitment to do. My own team to check in with (that I haven’t seen properly for three weeks now).
I’m too busy to think!
Oh, and now I am procrastinating from doing any of it by writing a blog post. Yes. I know.
Recognise this? I suspect you do as I have heard this story from pretty much every single leader I work with. I am just too busy to take time out to do the thinking.
The stupid thing is, I know all this. I know that without doing the thinking time and strategic planning time, I will end up wasting some of my time and doing things I don’t need to do.
I’m also aware that we are recruiting currently, so there is extra immediate work that has to happen. If I don’t do it, it won’t get done – that is part of running a small business.
And it is taking all my time.
As I write this, I am beginning to ask myself why. Why didn’t I get someone in to handle the recruitment so that I could focus on doing my work and thinking? Because at the time I didn’t think it would be that hard… and maybe if I am completely honest with myself, I didn’t think it through…
There’s the rub.
I am too busy today because I didn’t do enough thinking and planning a month ago. (*slaps hand on head* DOH)
A good thing is that I have arranged a strategic planning conversation with another entrepreneur/friend for an hour this afternoon. Maybe I can do it all! It’s 12.40pm. An hour for that conversation, post this, get everything else done and leave early to meet my Mum who is coming north for the weekend.
Now that I have written it down, I think not.
OK Lucy, stop, think. Do some planning of how you are going to achieve all this and then just do it. Focus time coming up.
Don’t disturb me anyone. I am trying to think. If I do it well, I might have more time next week!
Back to blog
