I don’t know if there’s a rule about “you’re not supposed to blog when you’re irritated”, but if there is I’m apparently breaking it today. The embarrassing part is that I’m mostly irritated with myself.
Lately I’ve found myself not getting things done that I’d like to, and I’ve heard myself using the pathetic excuse, “I just don’t have enough time”. That’s kind of embarrassing to say, especially given that a large part of my career is focused on helping businesses get things done.
You’re probably thinking, “I just don’t have enough time” is a perfectly valid excuse. We’re all busy. Sometimes we’re just too busy to get some things done. But I don’t buy that. I think that when we say “I just don’t have enough time”, what we are really saying is “It’s not a high enough priority”.
Example: A client of ours is struggling to implement a marketing plan they developed during the past year. Part of the plan involves a contact program, and part of the contact program involves making a series of phone calls. The phone calls aren’t getting done. Following up with the person responsible, I heard, “I just haven’t had time”. My response: “There is no such thing”. It just isn’t a high enough priority for them.
If you don’t agree, then ask yourself this: If you won the lottery, but you had to drive 8 hours to another city and stay there for a week to get the $$, would you go? Of course you would. But what about “I don’t have enough time”? You don’t have time to implement your plans for your business, but you can take a week or more off to go get your lottery money? The answer of course, is that your lottery winnings would take priority.
A more serious (and plausible question): If your spouse or one of your children was gravely ill, and having an extremely risky medical procedure done at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, would you go and be there with them? Of course you would. So you’re so busy with various tasks at work that you can’t implement plans for your business, but you can drop all of that to go be with your family? Absolutely. It would be a priority.
The point is, we make time for the things that really matter to us. If you’re not getting your plans implemented, and you’re not achieving your vision for your business, and you’re telling yourself it’s because you’re “too busy”, you’re kidding yourself. The real answer is that you haven’t made those things a priority, or to put it bluntly, you just don’t care enough.
What are your priorities? What really matters to you?
