“If the Devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” This is the Sunday School brilliance that my business coach shared with me on a coaching call recently. My word for the year is “listen.” You know that I LOVE talking. My previous words for previous years were always something like “finding my voice” or “sharing my message;” something about talking. As I move into this new season of life, I feel like, for this year, I want to make it about listening. Not just listening in terms of listening to the needs of my family, my team or my community. For me it was also important to have it focus on listening to God and listening for guidance. Back to my coaching call. After my coach patiently allowed me to finish my long-winded update, she asked me how I was doing with “my word.” I am learning that listening is not my natural tendency. I had a ton of intentionality to be productive, but she asked me, “How much are you actually listening?” I felt I was doing important, good things and making very productive use of my time, but I was taking away from those things because “I was too busy to listen.”
Gary Keller says, “sometimes we are losing so slowly, we think we are winning.” I am saying I want to listen, but I am too busy to listen unless I start getting really intentional for what is important to me. For me, it is listening. What is it for you? In what ways are you too busy to make that a priority?
[6:55] What is your purpose? What is this path that you are pursuing? So many times, people think their purpose is their career or vocation. Sometimes our passions for our vocation feel so big that we think it actually is! There is a bigger piece here, in my opinion: how you are showing up day in and day out. If you focus on one particular thing, not just the big picture. I share an example from my own life, early on in my real estate career. I was thriving in my career and felt I was helping families every day. But I was not giving that same attention and passion to my family and friends. Don’t ever forget that there is something bigger.
[11:07] What are your natural tendencies or the activities/habits that are keeping you busy? When I think about this idea of habits, I want you to think of your time as abundant. Remove the thought that “there are not enough hours of the day.” Change to, “I have all of the time that I need!” Habits start to get uncovered when you peel back the layers and audit your time. I share an example about Social Media.
[14:10] Are you listening? I have a memory that continues to pop up in my mind. It was the first time God spoke to me. Canandaigua Academy circa 2005. We were called to the auditorium for a speaker. While they were speaking, I was convinced that was what I was going to do with my life. They were making an impact on the lives of the people in the auditorium. I assumed everyone else in the audience felt the same was as me and wanted to pursue a life of Public Speaking. When I learned that was not true, it hit me: callings on your heart are unique and not the same as everyone else. Start talking about them and sharing about them. Start taking action. The more you do, the more you will see the beauty o this message, this gift, that you have been given.
So, when my coach said, “If the Devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.” I spent time asking myself these 3 questions and making sure I am listening, so I am fulfilling my purpose and acknowledging things that are getting in the way. When you are “busy” you are “losing slowly!” It doesn’t have to be this grand thing, hours and hours of working towards your goals. Start today with 5 minutes/10 minutes where you are stopping thinking and making sure yo are spending the time on the right things for you. Remember: you are never too busy to pursue the life that you were designed to live.
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