By Sunny Simon
A client of mine, Liz, carved out some time from her busy day to have a leisurely lunch with a friend. As it turned out, mealtime was anything but fun and relaxing. She successfully dodged a few phone calls, but eventually had to take one from a customer in crisis, so lunch turned into damage control. Luckily her friend was more sympathetic than frustrated as she observed Liz conducting business.
Prior to our session this week, Liz did some excellent self-coaching. She came to the realization that due to the huge upsurge in her business (a good thing) trying to squeeze in time for friends and other activities had to be put on hold. Liz told me she decided to “push the pause button” until the rush was over and the dust settled. I gave her credit for single-handedly overcoming the Superwoman Syndrome. For both men and women, the fallacy of thinking we can be all things to all people is a fairy tale we tell ourselves.
Often I coach and write about the value of white space on our calendars, however, this missive does not carry that particular theme. My message today is about what we lose. We risk more than causing our stress level to skyrocket when we take on too much.
Consider how inability to plan accurately impacts others. In Liz’s case, her friend showed no negative reaction to having her lunch hour trumped by multiple phone calls. It is possible, however, she was thinking that eating a sandwich at her desk and getting her own work done would have been a more valuable use of her time.
Liz was wise enough to know early on that pressing the pause button is a prudent move. Not doing so inflicts discomfort on others. Most of us have experienced the pain of watching an individual step up to the plate promising to handle a project, only to receive a panicked plea for help at the eleventh hour because he or she over-promised. Consequently, we end up upsetting our schedules to assist in the bail out.
Ever been on the receiving end of a meeting interrupted by a latecomer because his schedule was too jammed to report on time? What happens is we tend to lose respect for friends, colleagues and co-workers who beg forgiveness by claiming overload.
Rather than risk losing your credibility by wasting the time of others, push the pause button. Keep your reputation and honor intact by trimming down the urge to overload your schedule.
Sunny Simon is the owner of Raise the Bar High Life and Career Coaching. More about Sunny at www.raisethebarhigh.com
