Busyness Is Not a Time Issue. It Is a Safety Strategy ⏰🛡️

I want to share one of the themes that emerged in my Awaken programme and particularly my live Power Map session. 

Nearly every leader in the session recognised these thoughts on busyness:

Busyness feels responsible. Competent. Valuable. The only way that stuff gets done.

So I asked:  ‘Who are you if you’re not busy being busy?’

Oof. That hit home.

What surprised people was not that they were busy.

It was why the thought of stopping felt uncomfortable.

Because busyness feels safe.  Even when it’s exhausting. 

I can do busy.  I get that instant dopamine fix and feedback loop of ‘box ticked’.

That bigger, more strategic project, though?  Much more uncertain (and as far as our brains are concerned, uncertainty = threat).

So crazy as it sounds, busyness is our brain’s way of protecting a familiar identity.

If I am busy, I am valuable.

If I stop, who am I then?

Until you face that question head-on, your calendar will be permanently full.

So learn as many productivity hacks as you like.

They won’t solve your identity problem.