Maybe you’ve heard the old saying: If you want to get something done, ask a busy person. This seems counterintuitive to us because we all tend to look for the breaks in our schedule. And, we truly do need those breaks. Balance and rhythm are critical elements in living a successful life. (For more on that, check out this post.)
But, it is also true that those with a lot on their plates are often willing to take on more. Don’t believe us? Take a look at the volunteering stats. You might think that people with jobs and families would be less likely to volunteer than those without such claims on their time. The truth is, volunteering rates are actually higher among the employed than those not in the workforce, and parents are more likely to volunteer than non-parents.
In fact, a 2016 study confirmed that those who lead busier lifestyles are less likely to procrastinate, better at getting things done, and are able to avoid negative emotions. Conducted by Professor Keith Wilcox and his team and Columbia University, the study found that people with a full schedule are more likely to complete tasks and bounce back from missed deadlines.
According to Wilcox’s study, keeping yourself busy is a simple way to continue getting things done, even when deadlines have been missed.
“A simple way for people to become more productive is to remind themselves of all the tasks they need to do. Thinking about all the tasks one needs to do should encourage a perception that one is busy. This should make people feel better, as there was a reason for missing certain tasks’ deadlines or failing to achieve certain goals. Feeling better about a task or goal should lead people to not disengage from them. Instead, people should be motivated to complete the task or goal, and become more productive overall. In addition, purposively keeping oneself busy may be a simple and effective antidote to chronic procrastination and task-completion tardiness. In a workplace setting, for example, managers may find that their subordinates are less likely to procrastinate if they give them more, not less, to do.”
So maybe, your solution to avoiding the potential of a summer motivation slump is simply to be proactive about taking on new challenges.
One caution: we don’t advocate being busy for busy sake. The goal is not to make you more busy. The goal is help you be more productive so that you are accomplishing your dreams. Don’t just fill your summer with random tasks or spin your wheels on meaningless things. Be purposeful to look at your overall goals and decide what could uniquely fit into summer in order to prepare you to nail the last quarter of 2017 this Fall.
Ryan Holmes, the CEO of HootSuite, uses slow times (like summer) to continue reading, researching, and learning related to his business. For example, you might consider taking a free ecourse on increasing your small business’s success. Or maybe you need some inspiration. Try reading Merrin Muxlow’s article, 12 Amazing Success Stories of Unlikely Entrepreneurs. It provides a dozen inspiring examples to get your entrepreneurial juices flowing again.
These are just a couple of ideas to help you get your productivity juices flowing. Summer’s slow schedule has its perks for refueling. But, it can also be a time take on a few things that have been simmering on the back burner but never get your attention.
Let summer be a time that inspires you to be busy in the best sense. Not mindlessly busy. Not busy for the sake of being busy. But busy because you are captured and motivated by your dreams.
