Beating Busyness & Avoiding Being Eaten Alive

With speaking, writing, teaching…not to mention family-ing…I get the following comment A LOT:

“Man, you must be soooo busy.”

But I’m not.
You learn how not to be.
Or the industry eats you alive.

And I don’t know about you, but of all the ways this world can take you out, I’ve never been that fond of being eaten alive.
(**Gulp** Sounds painful.)

So here’s what I’ve learned so far:
1. I schedule my speaking engagements around my family vs. scheduling my family around my speaking engagements. There’s a difference.
2. I see life as a series of seasons, some of which require me to hit it hard and some of which I intentionally devote to rest.

Read on if you’re trying to fight busyiness in your own niche.

So, first things first.
I do DO speaking engagements.
33 of which are squeezed between February and July.
Which sounds like a lot.
But they’re spead out over a few months.
A couple of which (the months of June-August), I don’t work.
(I’m a teacher.)
Not to mention, when it comes to these speaking engagements, they are intentionally spaced out.
Generally one per week…and usually on the weekend at that.
This is so my hubby and the little Emperor are free to come along.

We’re good travelers.
We marvel at the clouds from airplane windows.
We rock out to the radio.
We catch the Cubs on the road where we can.

This means I am not living a double-life: one with my family and one on the road.
My family life is my ONLY life.

Secondly, I see my life in seasons.
In this season, I happen to be speaking a lot.
Because I’m speaking a lot, I’m not doing other things.

So during this stage (February to July), Monday through Thursday afternoons and evenings, I have zero commitments.
Nada.
Not a one.

I take my little one to the park 3 or 4 afternoons a week.
Sometimes we try out the library playroom.
Occasionally we go grocery shopping.
Here and there, we meet up with friends for dinner or a walk.

But we don’t have any appointments.
No small groups to teach.
No book clubs to stay up with.
No afternoon job to check into.

That doesn’t mean we won’t ever do those things again.
We will.
We’ll teach small groups.
We’ll be part of mid-week activities.

But right now, we make and eat meals.
We read books.
We walk by the lake.
We observe baby ducks.
We visit sick friends.
We sleep. (More on this later.)
We catch our favorite TV shows.
We play in the sunshine.
We have long talks over coffee.
We take time to sing and dance (1 year old style).
We indulge in movies.

After this season comes a planned period of rest.
From mid-August to December, we say NO to speaking engagements.
We do family time and holidays.
We help out at church a little more.
Indulge in a few hobbies.
Live life soley at home, in Jackson.
Or traveling…just for pleasure.

I’m not saying I always get it right.
Occasionally, a week does seem TOO busy.
Then I kick myself and think, why did I agree to do too many things? (Like the series of weekend events described here.)
And I strengthen my resolve to be more realistic about my energy levels the next time.
So, as time goes on, I have less and less busy days.
 
What about you? Are you scheduling your projects around your family or are you scheduling your family around your projects? Do you have planned rest built into your weeks? And, what season of life are you in? Do you have a pre-planned season of rest in your future?

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