So, I’ve been meaning to write this post for a week, but guess what? I was too busy and didn’t have time. I can’t tell you how often I have been “busy” this month.

It’s sort of a funny story on how this post came about. A friend of mine contacted me about getting together for lunch to reconnect (I hadn’t seen her in a long time) but I was going to decline because I was too “busy” to get out for a lunch date. On a whim the night before I just decided to go for it and set a time and place for lunch. I am SO glad I did because it was great to reconnect. During lunch she mentioned an article that she had read about being busy and promised to send it to me. After reading it, I knew it was going to be the next step in my Be the Best You in 2014 series.

You can read the article by Tyler Wardis here.

A few points that stood out to me were:

• “Being busy is not the same as being productive.”
• “It can actually be a sign of an inability to manage our lives well…We simply don’t know how to live within our means, prioritize correctly, or say no…Being busy is not the same as being productive.”
• “Busy often keeps us from the finer things in life.”

This article really opened my eyes to some of the things I am guilty of. I’ve had a number of people use that excuse for me to explain why I haven’t made time for them “We know you are so busy,” they will say.

So the author proposed a challenge, that I am going to implement in my life this year:

“For one month, I’m going to stop using the word “busy.” I’m going to resist the comfort of it to try and dig deeper to explain how things really are. If I feel busy, my hope is to be aware enough to discover why and to learn how I can change it.

Join me. Or at the very least, remember that being busy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and often isn’t as necessary as we think.”

So starting now, for 2014, I am not going to use the word “busy” as an excuse for not doing something.

The author provides a number of resources on how to re-prioritize your life, but I think the first step for me is to finally get my Erin Condren life planner (I will be getting the sorority edition of course).

Erin Condren Life Planner

In the article the author mentioned the 80/20 principle which is introduced in Timothy Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek. In order to get my schedule under control I decided to purchase this book for myself. I want to make sure to work smarter, not harder.

I will keep you updated on my progress on this challenge as I start to go through the planning resources and share my tips.

I would love for you to join me in this challenge and share your stories below!

Click here for more posts in this series here.