Training

A recent survey in America found that more than 3 out of 10 adults stated they wanted to read more. It also found that book reading is second only to exercise as the most desired activity.

Pretty surprising?

If this statistic includes you, then opening a book may have become something to do when you’re not busy with something else. And if you read my article last week, you’ll know that busyness is a bad habit that most of us are guilty of. In other words, we always seem to be “too busy” already.

Many of us are not too busy because our time management is poor. It is because we are addicted to being busy. Like all addicts, we lament the impact on our performance and well-being. But the “high” we get from being busy makes it easy to justify to ourselves.

Why is this “too busy addiction” so powerful? Let’s investigate . . .

In the past, it was easy to look ahead. To create our goals; to plan for a better future for ourselves and our families; and to envision our future desires – like a new house, a better car, or a new job.

But the future doesn’t feel so certain anymore, does it?

So what we tend to do instead, is focus more on the past and the present. During this very unsettling time of lockdown, our attention has shifted from planning our future, to dealing with the repercussions of our past.

Are you guilty of delaying work that needs to be completed until the last minute?
Maybe it’s a task you need to complete, a proposal you need to submit to a client, or an errand your spouse asked you to do.

I’m sure we’ve all gone through some extent of procrastination over the years – I certainly have. Studies show that over 20% of adults put off or avoid doing certain tasks by allowing themselves to be overtaken by distractions.