Sorry I'm too busy

Richard Brewin • April 28, 2021

Sorry, I'm too busy

Ok, I admit that sometimes, as a mentor and coach to accountants, I will deliberately talk about a complicated issue in black and white. I’m not trying to dismiss the grey, but looking to temporarily take it out of the picture to avoid it masking actions that can be taken.


Being too busy is one such case. This is a complex topic and one with many factors, but sometimes, being too busy is a mask for weaknesses that should be focused upon and not hidden. Too busy can be a genuine excuse or it can be simply an excuse, an outcome for not having tackled other things better.


So let’s go black and white on the issue…


When you say, “sorry, I’m too busy”, you could be saying:


  • sorry, I’m too busy for you


  • sorry, I’m really disorganised


  • sorry, I’ve got my priorities all wrong again


  • sorry, I’ve under-resourced my business


  • sorry, I’ve planned my day wrong


  • sorry, I forgot


  • sorry, I’m rubbish at saying no


  • sorry, I’ve over-promised again


  • sorry, I’ve taken too long over this


  • sorry, I’ve messed up again


  • sorry, I should have revised my plans earlier


  • sorry, I’m rubbish at communicating


  • sorry, I’m not really interested




There are genuine times when we are the victims of circumstance. Deadlines change, resources change, needs change and the requirement for us to respond can leave us ‘too busy’ as an outcome. 


How many more times though do those words leave our mouths as a result of the above failings. These are things that we can do something about, weaknesses that we can address. 


I know it’s annoying to see this as such a black and white issue but that doesn’t make it any less true. If you faced up to these failings and did something about them, then how much more time would you have? How much less often would you being using those four words?


Or are you too busy?


 

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