If you’ve ever felt like you have too much to do and not enough time to do it all, this episode is for YOU! In this episode, I am joined by Garland Vance to talk all about how busyness is killing us, how to get UNbusy and let go of the unnecessary commitments that are holding you back from enjoying life to its fullest potential. We talk about how busyness can negatively affect you mentally and physically and emotionally.
Garland is an author, speaker and consultant. He is the author of “Gettin’ Unbusy” which Forbes named one of the seven books that every person on your team should read! He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with his wife and 3 kids. Anyone can relate to this episode, so let’s dive in!
Show Notes:
2:38 STRESS WAS KILLING GARLAND
In 2013, Garland started having all of these physical problems and went to his doctor. He was having migraine headaches, forgetfulness, exhaustion, and heart palpitations. He was in good shape, however he would find himself pouring sweat even doing the simplest tasks. The doctor asked about his life and he answered with “it’s a good life, it is just really busy”. He went on to explain the commitments he is faced with on a weekly basis.
The doctor told him that he was experiencing stress, because he was so busy. He was infuriated by this! Garland answered by saying “everyone is so busy”, and the doctor answered with “Yes, and it is killing us all”. Garland started researching busyness and it ended up being the main focus of the rest of his doctoral program. He’s passionate about this topic because what his doctor said is true.
9:00 OVERCOMMITTED TO TOO MANY GOOD THINGS
Most people are busy because they said yes to too many good things! One of the things that I preach is simplicity and especially saying “no”. People say yes to everything because they feel obligated and then at the end of the day, they wonder “what did I even get done today?”
Garland says there are three types of beliefs that keep us trapped in busyness.
- I need to be more.
- I need to do more.
- I need to get more.
Learn to focus on what you want to be GREAT at, and what you’re okay with just being “okay” at.
19:40 THE COMMIT TO UNCOMMIT
When someone decides to get unbusy, the natural tendency is to immediately go “Okay what do I want to accomplish instead”. This immediately adds more commitments to an already overcommitted life.
Here how Garland recommends deconstructing your unwanted habits:
- Get a sheet of paper out and write down every commitment you’ve got.
- Write down how much time per month each commitment takes.
- Put one of three faces beside each commitment. A smiley face is “yes I love this commitment”. The second would be a sad face and that is “I hate this commitment”. The third is a straight line mouth face that is for a more neutral emotion about the task.
Once you’ve done that you have one of four choices. You can delete the commitment, you can negotiate it, you can begin to give it to someone else, or you can accept it. This activity frees up 5-10 hours of your life every week.
25:00 THE THREE BIG QUESTIONS
Ask yourself these three questions:
- What do you want from your life?
- What are your biggest dreams?
- Do you have the time, energy, and attention to constantly move towards those biggest dreams?
People can tell you their biggest dreams, however ask if they have the time and energy to focus on those and the answer most of the time is “no”. Get as much out of your life as you can, and commit to the one thing that you need/want to do. Everything else will happen naturally!
33:18 THE STEPS TO DESIGNING YOUR LIFE
- The first step is you decide to get unbusy.
- The second is to deconstruct.
- The third is deciding the life you want to live. Design the pace of life you want to live!
It’s not just about WHAT you do, but it’s about HOW you do it.
40:24 THREE BOUNDARIES TO BUILD
- The first one is the ‘end of work’ boundary. This is when you set a time of the day when your computer is shut down and your job is done.
- The second one is the ‘end of day’ boundary. No matter if the kitchen is a wreck, we stop doing work as a family.
- The final one is a task boundary. This is where time blocking is so helpful, and it allows you to work on what you need to work on for a focused amount of time.
Go grab Garland’s book at KillBusy.com! Go to VanceLeadership.live to find out more information about what he does.
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