Me: “Hey how are you doing today?”
Other person:“Busy. Very busy.”
That’s the standard response most of us give and get, isn’t it? After all, you wouldn’t tell your boss that you have nothing going on now, would you? “Busy” is a comfortable, one-size-fits-all response.
But when we say we’re busy, what does it really mean? Here are some possibilities.
- “I’m busy.”– I’m doing a lot of activities now. Meetings, emails, some phone calls. Busy work.
- “I’m busy.”– There are some things I need to get done but I’m not excited about doing them so I’ll do some busy work.
- “I’m busy.”– I’m dreading a particular task right now (cold-calling a prospect, having an uncomfortable conversation with a direct report) so I’m doing some busy work to close that margin of time I should be using for that task.
- “I’m busy.”– I’m doing something that will get me results, drive prospects to a sale, or help my team become more effective.
Of all four, only the last one is a legitimate reason to use the “busy” word. All others are simply excuses.
So this week, as The Boss, take a look at how many times that “busy” word comes out of your mouth. How often is it for the right reasons? All of us might realize how we’ve been abusing that word.
What do you think?