Stop Being Busy: Your Time Deserves Better
by Lisa Bodell for Forbes
In recent years, I’ve witnessed the state of being busy wrongly elevated to a badge of honor. Adhering to a calendar or to-do list is not equal to driving change or executing a strategy. With only 14% of employees reporting that their time is spent on “meaningful” work, the true deficit in our companies isn't money or human resources — it's time.
It’s perplexing to me that people express righteous anger when their money is wasted, yet not when their time is wasted. Time is a precious, nonrenewable resource and leaders must start taking an intentional approach to how and where they spend it. If our time was spent on what truly matters — innovation, growth, connection — instead of creating 100-slide decks or sitting through another meeting that should've been an email, imagine what we could accomplish.
What does your daily calendar reveal about you? Do you drill down on minutiae or invest in work that truly matters? From procrastination and distraction to perfectionism, the barriers to effective time management are myriad. But by confronting these barriers, we can reclaim our day (and feel accomplished at the end of it). Start with five key tactics from my latest simplification book: