HOW TO
SWITCH
FROM
BUSY TO
EFFECTIVE
By Zach Clark
H
OW DO YOU flip the switch from being busy to being
effective when you are overwhelmed and anxious with
way too many things to do?
I want to take you through a process that has helped me
and many of the leaders we work with here at Development
& Leadership Coaching.
But first, you need to take a breath! This is something
I struggle with in my own life. I think every leader does.
If we aren’t careful, we can get caught up just going from
one thing to the next every day. I want you to STOP and
BREATHE. Then, ask yourself this important question: “Am
I really doing the things that are critically important for
me to do that are going to move our organization forward
towards the vision we have for impacting people’s lives, or
am I just busy?”
The process I am going to share with you is one we walk
leaders through when they are getting to that place of feeling
stuck, overwhelmed, anxious, and constantly busy but are
beginning to wonder if they’re as effective as they should be.
I have found there are a couple of reasons why we can
often get stuck and feel this sense of doubt about whether
or not we are as effective as we should be. It doesn’t always
mean you are doing something wrong. In fact, you may be
doing something right!
Now, one of those reasons could be that you have a gazil-
lion things to do and you are feeling stressed and anxious,
you are not organized, you aren’t on top of anything, and
you haven’t got a clear sense of what you are supposed to be
doing. That is a very real scenario we can face, and there are
ways we can help people move through that, but oftentimes
this is not the case.
A common scenario looks more like this... You’ve become
better as a leader in planning and looking ahead. You’ve
grown a clearer sense of where you want to head. You have
some strategies in place you are trying to consistently work
out, and as you’ve improved in that aspect of your leader-
ship, what comes along with that is this greater sense of feel-
ing overwhelmed, busy, or wondering if you are focused on
the things you should be.
So, that feeling of being overwhelmed is a byproduct of
good planning. Often, the better we get at planning and clar-
ity in our role, the more overwhelmed and anxious we can
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