{"id":4935,"date":"2015-11-23T19:32:03","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T01:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=4935"},"modified":"2015-11-23T19:32:36","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T01:32:36","slug":"5-reasons-effective-leaders-avoid-the-m-so-busy-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2015\/11\/23\/5-reasons-effective-leaders-avoid-the-m-so-busy-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Effective Leaders Never Say, “I’m So Busy!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated from June 29, 2015 post<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Every leader has seasons on their calendar which are more intense than others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve just completed a season of trips seeing me visit Global Leadership Summit teams in eight countries, and each of these teams were steeped in the frantic pace that accompanies such an enormous effort.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But I didn’t once hear these leaders complain, “I’m so busy!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Well, these leaders have recognized the \u201cI\u2019m so busy\u201d trap, and they avoid it at all cost.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I outlined in this earlier post, 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\u2026\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 \u201cI\u2019m so busy\u201d trap too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated from June 29, 2015 post Every leader has seasons on their calendar which are more intense than others. I’ve just completed a season of trips seeing me visit Global Leadership Summit teams in eight countries, and each of these teams were steeped in the frantic pace that accompanies such an enormous effort. But 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":[3,769,5,738,478,7,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action","category-culture-2","category-discipline2","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","category-leadership-summit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935","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=4935"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4939,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions\/4939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}