The amazing powers of the triple D

How often do you find yourself saying "I'm too busy"? Or, when someone asks how you are, you reply with something along the lines of, "Good, thanks, just busy"?

I had an interesting conversation with a business strategist about "being busy" and what this means for many of us.

Many people make the mistake of confusing being busy with being stressed. To me, there's a huge difference. Being busy is simply having a lot to do. Being stressed is about getting anxious or even bad-tempered because of all the things you have to do. To me, stress is the combination of having a lot to do along with negative feelings and emotions that accompany that to-do list.

So what do we do so we're not so busy?

First, decide whether it really is stress or merely busy-ness. If it's stress, then work on the feelings and emotions that having a lot to do creates for you. And take measures to get rid of the anxiety and moods that occur. I'm not a health and wellness coach, so this blog isn't about me making recommendations around diet, breathing, exercise, yoga, etc. Although, even I can tell you, these all do help combat feelings of stress.

And that's the important thing to recognise. Stress is a combination of feelings - feelings that you can control. It's not a state of being. Or at least it shouldn't be.

So back to the topic of how we can become less busy.

This is how I deal with my busy-ness. I consider it simply as a matter of addition and subtraction. Yes, it's that simple. When I add something to my to-do list, I make sure I subtract something. And I work hard at subtracting more than adding. How do I subtract, or delete, things from my to-do list? I follow the rule of the triple D (and no, that has nothing to do with what you're thinking).

The triple D rule is this - either DO, DELEGATE or DITCH.

Go through your to-do list and assign one of these three.

Make sure you're DOING something every day. Tiny steps continuously, steadily lead to great adventures.

If you don't enjoy or excel at something, then DELEGATE it.

And lastly, if something's been on your to-do list for far too long (be honest, you know how long is too long), then chances are you can DITCH it.