{"id":4747,"date":"2015-06-29T20:35:52","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T01:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=4747"},"modified":"2015-06-29T20:35:52","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T01:35:52","slug":"5-reasons-effective-leaders-avoid-the-im-so-busy-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/29\/5-reasons-effective-leaders-avoid-the-im-so-busy-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Effective Leaders Avoid the “I’m So Busy” Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the things I love about the weeks leading up to the Global Leadership Summit is the sense of purpose and urgency that grips our team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every year at this time the Willow Creek Association staff gets seized with a powerful sense of resolve (mixed with a generous heaping of fun).<\/strong><\/p>\n

By contrast, I have visited many teams who seem to be caught not so much in urgency as they are in panic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tell-tale sign is when you ask someone how they are doing, and reflexively they respond, \u201cOh, I\u2019m busy. I\u2019m just so busy.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s called the \u201cI\u2019m so busy\u201d trap, and effective leaders avoid it at all cost.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll never hear an effective leader get caught in the \u201cI\u2019m so busy trap\u201d because they know it can actually communicate something quite unflattering\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m so disorganized\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some people attach a misplaced sense of nobility to the notion of being busy.<\/p>\n

But in a lot of cases that frantic pace is just a reflection of poor organization skills and lack of focus.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t have clear goals…\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without clear goals, a precise strategy and iron-clad priorities it\u2019s easy to just run around from one disjointed activity to the next.<\/p>\n

It might look like hard work, but in many cases it\u2019s just squandered energy.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u201cI can\u2019t build teams\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Show me someone who keeps telling everyone they\u2019re busy, and I\u2019ll show you someone who might not have team-building skills.<\/p>\n

Because leaders who know how to build, empower and motivate teams also know how to spread the work around.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve mismanaged this project\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing will bring out the \u201cI\u2019m so busy\u201d chants quite as fast as a project that has been allowed to run amok.<\/p>\n

Rather than fessing up, some people will simply grab onto the \u201cI\u2019m so busy\u201d lifeline.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m just trying to impress people\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it.<\/p>\n

Our culture has hoisted the notion of \u201cbusy\u201d onto such a pedestal that many people have simply learned to mimic the \u201cI\u2019m so busy\u201d mantra merely as a status symbol.<\/p>\n

So keep your goals clear, your projects in-line and your teams on task.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll not only be more productive, but you\u2019ll be able to stay way clear of the “I’m so busy” trap too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things I love about the weeks leading up to the Global Leadership Summit is the sense of purpose and urgency that grips our team. Every year at this time the Willow Creek Association staff gets seized with a powerful sense of resolve (mixed with a generous heaping of fun). By contrast, I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[738,478,87,581],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership-summit","category-self-assessment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4747"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4753,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747\/revisions\/4753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}