Breaking Free from Busyness: The Top 3 Reasons You're Overwhelmed and How to Fix It

Many of my clients come to me because they are too busy.

• They are working too many hours.

• They spend most of their time putting out fires and trying to keep up with everything.

• They are having to say no to opportunities because there literally isn’t any more time to do more work.

• Their team members are frustrated.

• They are tired, frustrated and demotivated because they can’t see a way to change it.

Before you can make a change it’s important to first recognize this simple truth…

Being too busy is the result of our choices, it’s not the cause of our problems.

It’s easy to think that being too busy is the problem, but it’s actually the symptom of the underlying causes that need to change. 

The good news? It’s fixable! 

The bad news? You are the only ones who can fix it.

The first step to fixing it is understanding the top 3 reasons why business owners are too busy.

step 1: Saying yes more than you say no

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 20% of our efforts lead to 80% of our results. This also means that 80% of our efforts contribute to only 20% of our results.

In other words, you may be spending up to 80% of your time on things that don’t really matter.

This happens when my clients default to saying yes to everything that comes their way. Yes to every new project. Every new client. Every new idea.

Every time you say yes to something there is less of you (and your team) to go around. You end up making small progress in many areas, vs. measurable  progress where it matters the most.

I love how beautifully Greg McKeown summarizes this in his book Essentialism.

“Once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone [and everything], you can make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.”

step 2: Still seeing yourself as doer vs. leader

All activities in business can be categorized into Doing, Managing or Leading. The more time & energy you spend in doing, the less time you have for managing and leading.

Doing is a habit. If you are anything like many of my clients, you are simply used to being the doer because you’ve done it for so long. You may take pride in the fact that you are a doer and can ‘get it all done’! If you continue to identify as the ‘doer’ you will always be too busy, for the simple fact that you won’t be willing to let it go.

One of my favorite things to see when I step in to support a business is everyone in their sweet spot:

Leader: YOU

Director: Me

Doer: Team

step 3: Not building a strong foundation of team & systems

Once you’ve embraced your role as leader and are ready to let go of the doing, the next step is to bring in the right people to do the work and build a strong foundation of systems for everyone to work from.

It’s not rocket science to say that you need to hire a team – specifically a manager. And yet many people struggle here because they haven’t hired this level of critical support in their business before.

Most business owners aren’t amazing at finding, hiring and leading a team - that’s OK, it is a learned skill! Which is why being willing to invest in hiring great people who are amazing at those things is what takes you out of busy and to the next level.

If you are too busy I invite you to explore these 3 areas and let me know which of them feels like your biggest pain point. I assure you that even small changes in any of these 3 areas will make a measurable difference.

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.