Why are we all so busy all of the time? Exactly when in the modern epoch did it become necessary to look at our Blackberry to know when to go to the dentist, or our kid’s ballgame, or on vacation? Why do so many people wear their overstressed lives on their chests like some workaholic badge of honor?
I figured it out a few years ago. The culprit is the modern organization and the accompanying crisis of busyness. I call it “organizationally induced attention deficit disorder,” or “Org-ADD” for short. It usually builds slowly as we ascend an organization and accumulate meetings, e-mails, paperwork and people.
To combat this excessive busyness, we acquire the handy all-in-one device that perpetually rings and vibrates to keep us aware of the unending stream of important and not so important events. And with laptops and internet access, we can work anytime, including the all-popular “early morning hours when I’m on vacation and my family is still asleep” time. If you are afflicted with “Org-ADD,” understand that unless you do something about it, the organization will continue to add and add and add.
The good news is that treatment is available. It begins with a conversation that you need to have with yourself. You need to change the internal dialogue about how your busyness is indicative of your indispensability. It’s only indicative of your busyness, nothing more. There’s no badge of honor. Your boss doesn’t go home at night thrilled with how hard you are working. She’s too busy to notice. Stop being so busy, so that you can begin to become more effective.
Effectiveness is the result of doing the right things in the right ways. The right things are those actions that support attainment of strategic objectives related to profitability, market share and competitive advantage. You know, the things that are outlined in the strategic plan that you work on for months, present one time and then summarily park on the shelf (until it’s time for next year’s book). Why do we do such great work and then not look at it again? Because we’re too busy.
Take the book off the shelf. Use the strategic objectives that you so carefully outlined as a “screen” through which to evaluate your day to day activities. How do they match up? Not so good, I’ll bet. Do something about it. Unplug your electronics and turn on your cerebrum. Take a deep breath. Slow down…and get there faster.