Being "Busy" is NOT a badge of honor.

Happy Monday!

Some of you REALLY need to hear this this morning so turn up the volume or put the phone down and read this carefully.

If this letter teaches you something I’d encourage you to sign up for a 30 day trial and get it every day…

BEING BUSY IS NOT A BADGE OF HONOR.

How many times have you heard that as the good ole, “pat yourself on the back” excuse for everything???

“Oh I’d love to come to the party but I’m just so busy with work…”

“Oh, I wish I could make it… SO BUSY LATELY…”

We all do it, and we’ve had it done to us.

BUT LET’S STOP. NOW.

Some questions for you to get us started…

• When did “BEING BUSY” replace “BEING PRODUCTIVE?”

• When did “BEING BUSY” start to make us feel all warm and cozy inside?

And I’m about to get ALL up in your business here…

• Who of you, THIS WEEK, have neglected important moments with your loved ones and/or children, because you felt the need to be “BUSY”?

Here’s the cold hard truth of the matter that is very hard for people to learn.

Not all actions are created equal.

In fact, most of our actions, no matter how hard we try…

Whether it’s in business, in our personal lives, or in our relationships…

ACTUALLY DON’T ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING.

It’s only a small percentage (between 1% and 20%) of our actions that actually MOVE THE NEEDLE and ACCOMPLISH WHAT WE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH.

I’ve talked about this concept extensively in other letters, but let’s focus on the topic of being BUSY.

There is something deeply ingrained in most of us…

Not sure where it came from..

Maybe it’s just the culture…

But we’ve twisted the definition of PRODUCTIVITY.

We think, we honestly believe, that if we are not BUSY doing something, we are not being productive…

Am I wrong?

This leads to…

• Checking email 500 times a day

• Making up random tasks to do that seem super important (that day)

• Incessantly checking in on your subordinates

• Even when you aren’t working, creating random projects for yourself around the house…

• and many more

It really is a disease.

It’s easy to “see” this, when you think about it.

It’s HARDER to do something about it.

Here’s how I try to deal with the disease of busyness.

1) Stop and think before acting.

It’s so easy to just rush off and “DO”.

I become like a squirrel sometimes… “OH A NUT LET’S GO BURY IT!”

Except that nut is…

• an email I just thought of

• Something I forgot to send to a client

• A gig I need to hire someone for

So I just rush off and do it!

The key is to NOT do that…

The key is to STOP.

Take 10 minutes.

And actually write down PRIORITIES based on your big picture goals.

I like to ask myself, if I could ONLY do 1-2 things today and then I had to stop. No choice in the matter. Which two would I do?

Then I do those 2 things before doing ANYTHING else.

2) Eliminate most things.

Seriously.

Just stop doing it.

I’ve been leaning on the quote “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission…”

Random stuff that I do that when I examine it, doesn’t actually move the needle?

I’ll just literally stop doing it.

And see if anyone notices or if it affects anything.

If anyone gets mad, I just ask for forgiveness.

Try it. It works.

3) Automate or delegate what you can’t eliminate.

Stop doing monotonous things that someone in the Philippines can do for $3 an hour.

(ZERO offense thrown there).

Virtual assistants are a THING.

They aren’t going anywhere.

You can EMPLOY people who DESPERATELY NEED IT.

Pay them a wage that is FAR BETTER than what your competitors do…

And they will LOVE YOU FOR IT.

They work hard, they are available basically 24/7, and they are KIND, loving people.

Seriously, why in the World do you do some things that these VA’s can do?

They will do it better than you, and you can focus on things that move the needle more.

(if you don’t know how to hire a VA I have one word for you… UPWORK)

4) Constantly ask yourself “IS THIS ESSENTIAL?”

Seriously.

45 times a day. Minimum.

Everything you do, simply ask yourself “Is this Essential?”

Essential literally means…

absolutely necessary; extremely important.

Is what you are doing ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, or EXTREMELY IMPORTANT?

If it isn’t, you need to AGGRESSIVELY eliminate, automate, or delegate it.

If you don’t??

You simply don’t value your time.

And like the great quote says…

Time is money. – Benjamin Franklin.

Hope you enjoyed this.

If you did, subscribe for Pete’s sake.

Here’s a 30 day trial so you can get a feel for these letters and decide if they are valuable to you or not -> https://thekaleletter.substack.com/free

See you subscribers tomorrow.

Kale