As I fished the old USB mouse out from the closet below my stairs, I hit my head and cursed so loudly that Sharpie, my dog, bolted upright from his nap.
I needed the mouse because my hands were so sweaty that I couldn’t use the trackpad on my laptop.
That’s because — despite the 104° F heat (that’s overwhelmingly hot in Celsius) — I was stuck inside, with no a/c, drafting the webinar that I would use to introduce and sell my Impossible Problems course.
My louder-than-necessary expletive wasn’t just about my injury; I was tapping into some self-directed resentment.
Why was I stuck inside working instead of eating ice cream and swimming in nearby Green Lake?
After all, it’s my business! Aren’t I in charge here?
Yes, I am. And that was the problem!
I’d committed to a very ambitious timeline to launch my course — a launch, it turned out, that didn’t resonate with my audience.
(Translation: I didn’t make any money!)
So the day after the webinar (and the disappointing results), I was in a reflective mood.
And luckily, I happened to take a free mini-course offered that day by my teacher, friend, and podcast guest, Amba Gale.
No joke: that 75 minutes changed my life. (Good news: she’s offering the mini-course again!)
How? In the mini-course, Amba asks us to reflect: What do I need to stop doing to move forward?
In other words, what doesn’t serve me anymore?
For me, a lot of things arose. Letting go of trying to be impressive. Of trying to be right.
But, most importantly, I realized that I was ready to let go of my commitment to being busy, a belief that my success comes from sweating out 5% of my body weight on a scorching summer Saturday instead of swimming in a lake.
I know that I’m not the only one with this belief about busyness. Does it resonate with you?
The other day, I was chatting on Twitter with some brilliant people who work in legal technology about why innovations that promise substantive improvement aren’t adopted.
There were lots of explanations — from the licensed nature of the legal industry to incentives.
But I was most curious about what the people resisting change got from not improving their effectiveness.
One theme that emerged was that lawyers who do things the “old-fashioned way” get to stay busy.
Staying busy is very useful!
For some professionals — those that bill hourly — staying busy is how they bring home the (traditional, turkey, vegan) bacon.
But even lawyers who don’t get paid hourly (those who work in-house for a corporation, for example) get something from a commitment to busyness. Many started work in big law firms that rewarded them for busyness; others remained steeped in a prevailing culture that celebrates toil.
I would never argue that it’s not useful to be busy. And I won’t speak to the nuances of legal work, one of the most complicated professions on the planet. But staying committed to busyness when the context is changing around you can get costly.
For me, it’s clear that the cost of my commitment to busyness has exceeded its usefulness.
I add value to my clients and my business by being present, not by being busy.
Yet, just because something imposes a cost doesn’t mean it’s easy to let go of. We hold onto things that are useful even when it might be more useful to let them go.
No matter how much improvement is possible, we can’t move forward if we don’t shift our beliefs.
So what do you need to let go of? What belief has outlived its usefulness?
If you’re interested in exploring this question more deeply, you’re in luck. Amba is offering her free mini-course again.
So if you’re too busy, with too little to show for it…
If you’re unsatisfied with your beliefs around money…
If you want to be more present as a friend, colleague, spouse, or parent…
I encourage you to register here for Amba’s free course.
If you can, join us live on Thursday, August 26, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM (Pacific time). If you can’t, no worries – they’ll be a recording sent around after.
I hope to see you there (I’ll be giving a short introduction to Amba and why I thought this work was essential for my community).
Amba’s free mini-course is a preview of her Fall course on Crossing Thresholds, which she’s offering this September and October over six consecutive Tuesdays: September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 12, AND 19 from 10 AM–12 PM Pacific Time. I’m enrolled in Crossing Thresholds and thrilled about the journey.
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