We all know what i’m talking about. Overbooking your schedule and stretching yourself so thin you look like a chicken running around with its head cut off yelling “sorry I can’t i’m too busy”. It’s so easy to get caught up in the “rat race”, but this state of being is absolutely no way to live your life.

Whether you’re working a full time job, part time or running a business, you’re starting to feel overwhelmed and unproductive. You catch yourself packing your schedule and then cancelling plans or you and your girlfriends are all at coffee trying to one-up each other on busy-ness and how much work you have going on.

Let’s be clear, it’s not good to be “so busy”. Sure, having a good clientele and meetings is always good, but the second you start to feel it’s too much, you need to take a step back. Do you have a friend everyone is jealous of that travels often and never seems to be stressed out? That’s called work-life balance. It’s not a competition on who packs their schedules the most and today i’m sharing some tips on how to avoid the disease of busy-ness.

Step 1: Understand there will always be more work

If you’re a hard worker, you’re always going to want to accomplish as much as you can in one day to the best of your ability. This is a great quality to have, but sometimes can take you over the top. Trust me, I know, because this is me too. You can work until you’re blue in the face and there will still be more work for you to do tomorrow.

Step 2: Evaluate the busy

Now that you know there will always be work for you to do, it’s time to prioritize. Is what you’re “busy” doing actually getting you somewhere or is it just filling your schedule? There’s a difference between having a two hour coffee chat with a friend to complain and a two hour breakfast meeting with a potential client. Sometimes, we often fill our schedules to mask our true feelings. Maybe you have a fear of succeeding? Or have self doubt? Either way, look at your schedule and if there’s something that makes you feel ‘ugh’ take it out! You get to Create Your Life, so fuel yourself with meetings that fill you up, not bring you down further into the busy spiral.

Here are some tips on setting goals

Step 3: Plan

So now you know what is important in your schedule and what isn’t and it’s time to prioritize. At the beginning of every week I write down everything I want to accomplish. Sometimes the list is very long and that’s okay. Then, everyday I make a star next to each task I have to accomplish for that day. This helps me SO MUCH and the days that I don’t do it, I end the day feeling unproductive.

Here I shared tips on how to stay on track with your daily tasks

Step 4: Say No

This is my number one struggle but a HUGE goal for me this year: say “NO”. This is difficult but completely necessary. What if every time someone asked you to do something you said “yes”? Your schedule would be packed and you’d be running around like crazy all week long with your head down trying to put one foot in front of the other. Oh, that is you? Okay… SAY NO!

It’s okay to say no. People understand that you have your own schedule and they don’t rule your life. Now that you have your priorities and know what’s important and what isn’t, you can plan your schedule accordingly.

In the service business it’s easy to allow others to run your schedule (you’re working for them, right?). Well, not really. Having your own business means being your own boss and if you’re filling your schedule with busy-ness and meetings that don’t matter to you, you’re losing sight of why you started.