The other day I was on a call with a fellow entrepreneur. The reason that she wanted to talk is because she feels overwhelmed. She wants to grow her business but she has absolutely no time to do it, or so she says.
I asked her talk me through her week. Once she was done, I agreed with her.
You can give the speech of "If it is important to you, you will make time!"
However, that speech is BS.
Sometimes there truly isn't time.
The more that I agreed with her though, something funny happened.
Honestly, I don't think that she expected me to agree. She backtracked and told me how she could actually batch her work and get it done in two days a week. Right now she is allowing her work to fill her days because she can.
Parkinson's Law is usually expressed as “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
This is called a law for a reason. It is absolutely true.
Then we backtracked in the conversation and I asked her why she wanted to do these additional items for her business.
If you don't attach your why to your day, then your day will escape you.
So why are you spending your days the way that you are? Are you doing what you do because you don't know what else to do? Are you doing what you do because it is your next best step?
Is there anything worse than knowing that we are in control and have choices? Freedom sounds great. Freedom is a beautiful thing but perhaps it is also uncomfortable.
I agree. it’s not about having time is about making time even if you have to sacrifice having those weekly happy hours. :)
Hey Monique,
Yes, you are correct. There is often a sacrifice involved but then again, it is really a sacrifice? Perhaps we are really just trading one thing for another thing that we want? Hmm, I am not sure.
Cheers,
-Renee’
Such an important reminder! I’ve actually been thinking about Parkinson’s law a lot recently with a few projects that I have to squeeze in. The freedom to structure our time is a blessing with a hefty side of accountability—we only have ourselves to blame (or congratulate!) for what we get done.
Hey Nathalia,
You are so spot on. Hopefully, we can all spend a great deal more of our time congratulating ourselves.
Cheers,
-Renee’
I have always hated the idea “if you really want to do something, you’ll make time” . It puts a lot of extra pressure that isn’t necessary. I get extremely overwhelmed and as much as I want to focus on my blog and make it into something, I am limited with the amount of ‘free’ time that I have. I also do so many different things, so I’m constantly switching from one job to another. It’s a constant struggle of balance, focus and concentration.
I like your statement that “If you don’t attach your why to your day, then your day will escape you” I agree with this statement because one accomplishes nothing unless one is goal driven.