7. Busy-ness as a path to nowhere

There’s a fellow down the street that picks up bottles all day. He works much harder than the executive in the office tower but earns far less. It’s not by any means fair.

Most of us get caught up in being busy, instead of concentrating on what are accomplishing. This feels satisfying, as all of our peers are doing the same. (Logic suggests this is simply a bad habit.)

Get “un-busy”; determine where your wealth and happiness come from, and put your resources into that.

Sounds good to me. Is it that simple?

A lot of my wealth and happiness comes from my work. Combine this with my difficulty Saying No, and you have a very good recipe for Busy-ness.

This state of being is keeping me from making real progress on the business side of my career: the branding, the definition of my niche, and so on. And I wonder if that is self-perpetuating? If my niche were well defined, would I have been more comfortable answering that inquiry yesterday with “Sorry, find somebody else?” If my branding were up to snuff, would I have more confidence going after the bigger jobs? And if I landed those bigger jobs, would it be easier to Say No to all the little requests that don’t add value to my life?