Articles | Always Busy? Do Something About It

 

 

 

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Always Busy? Do Something About It

By Josh Hallam, General Manager, The Institute of Civil Infrastructure

 

 

 

Recent networking events and opportunities have enabled us to connect again with industry peers, colleagues and friends, after a pandemic-led hiatus. After the usual pleasantries, the common theme I keep hearing when it comes to discussing people’s careers is that they are “flat out busy”. When I push them on what they are doing to change that, following a brief silence, the response is always the same “it will slow down soon”. Actually, it won’t. You will only feel less ‘busy’ once you do something about it.

Constant time pressures and competing priorities have us in a constant state of busyness. Feeling like we are ‘on’ all the time and a to-do list that seems to always grow, we resort to taking any available moment to send an email, make a quick call or do a quick calc thinking we are being productive and efficient.

Often our busy state is caused through undertaking roles which don’t align to our skill set forcing us to complete them in a highly inefficient way as we learn and execute concurrently. We then fall behind in other areas where we are usually strong causing us to overcommit, delegate incorrectly and complete work of a sub-standard quality. Frustration and fatigue builds fuelling this ongoing cycle. So, what can we do?

Take control. Be proactive with your upskilling. Seek micro-credentials.

Now before you say, “how can I possibly fit in any training”, take a step back and think about it. Yes, professional development takes time and yes it costs money. However, how much additional time is spent attempting to work it out yourself on the job? How efficient are you when working on something late at night or whilst juggling other commitments? And, your time costs money, right?

Spending 3-4 hours upskilling in a certain area ensures a task can then be completed to a high standard in a time-efficient and cost-efficient way. It will not only enable you to produce higher quality but will make you more efficient on the current project and on future projects. This could be upskilling in a technical skill, a business skill or a leadership skill to drive team performance.

Being busy is often caused by being inefficient. Be less busy and upskill.

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