CHAPTER 1: How Are You?

Do you find yourself making these kinds of statements often?

Has the fact that you feel so busy and overwhelmed all of the time made its way into the beginning of every conversation you have?

Well, before we get started, we are going to award you with your Busy Badge!

We award this badge to people who are so busy that their current level of busy-ness is pretty much the first thing they mention when asked, “How are you?”

So go ahead.

Take a moment to print out the accompanying workbook if you haven’t already.

You can access it from www.stopwastingtime.today.

(And yes, we know that domain name is amazing.)

At the beginning of the workbook you will find a high resolution version of the Busy Badge that you can print out and wear (not so) proudly.

Rest assured, dear reader - we understand the plight that you find yourself in.

That is why we have worked tirelessly to bring this book and workbook combo to you.

We get it.

Everyone is “busy.”

So why is it that there are some people who seem to get an infinitely larger number of productive things accomplished in 24 hours than others?

We are all given the same 24 hours to do with as we will.

And before you get any further in this book, we need to be on the same page about something - and that is right here, right now, you agree to admit to yourself that you are choosing to do just about everything you do in a day.

Yes, that includes the job you’re currently working at.

Yes, that includes the bills that you’re paying.

Yes, that includes the unhealthy relationships that you continue to put up with.

At the end of the day, you are making thousands of conscious (or subconscious) choices throughout the span of 24 hours that have brought you to your current state of being.

Your choices have been influenced by a variety of factors, of course.

Things you learned in school, church, work, from your parents, family members, friends, ex-boyfriends or girlfriends, etc…

You have definitely been influenced by books that you’ve chosen to read, arguments that you’ve had, and people that have hurt you in one way or another.

The thing that you’ve got to settle in your mind before you will start to see real, lasting, positive changes in your life is that you may not necessarily be able to control the EVENTS that happen, but you most certainly can control your RESPONSE to those events.

Best-selling author and world-renown speaker Jack Canfield has a simple formula that he shares with his clients and audience that has dramatically changed the way we look at our lives and circumstances.

It is E + R = O

EVENT + RESPONSE = OUTCOME

You are making a choice right now as to whether or not you’re going to believe what we just said.

Does this make you feel angry? Why?

Do you believe that you are the result of everything that has happened to you, or do you believe that you are more than that?

If you don’t believe that you are more than that, you will always be tossed back and forth by the trials that life throws at all of us.

What we want to help you do is to learn how to respond positively to the events in your life so that you achieve the outcome and goals that you desire.

And one of the first steps to doing that is by recognizing that busyness is NOT something that happens TO you.

Busyness is something that you ALLOW to happen based solely on choices that you have made.

You choose to be too busy to do this or that.

You have made choices to do one thing and not another. You choose to sleep in late. You choose to procrastinate on those projects until the very last second.

So that stress that you may be feeling about that thing that you waited until 3 hours before the deadline to start?

That’s self-inflicted.

Or that dull rage you experience when you’re spending 3+ hours of every day of the week crawling by in traffic just so that you can sit in a cubicle working at a job that you hate?

So is that.

“Wait a second! I NEED to work this job because of….”

Hold on there, champ. We’re just trying to get you to see that you are a powerful person that is capable of making powerful choices, and each one of those choices has consequences - some positive, and some negative.

So yes, even the stress you probably feel because you hate your job is in a way still self-inflicted because you still ultimately are CHOOSING to be working at that particular place that you may not be so fond of.

Remember - there are plenty of people around the world who are doing things that they love and earning a livable income doing so.

If they can do it, so can you.

Keep in mind here, folks - we’re not saying that these choices are easy choices to make.

We’re not saying that the road you will travel after making those choices won’t be full of difficulties. It most certainly will.

We’re just pointing out that ultimately, the kinds of things that you allow in your life are most often the result of choices that you have made and continue to make.

Yeah, yeah…we know.

You might be thinking,

“Wait a second! I thought this was a self-help book! I thought this was supposed to make me feel good about myself so that I can get more things done, manage my time better, and stop wasting money!”

And it is - but the first step to changing and getting help is admitting that you have a problem.

So if you’re still wearing your Busy Badge, say this to yourself out loud:

“My busyness is a choice.”

If you didn’t say it out loud or if you heard that little voice in your head say, “That’s stupid, I don’t need to say this out loud…” that’s an even bigger reason to say it out loud.

Once you understand that your busyness is a choice, you are empowered to make positive changes to take control of your life and stop being so busy, unproductive and unfulfilled.

So if you didn’t say it out loud, let’s try this again:

“My busyness is a CHOICE.”

There.

Doesn’t that feel better?

Even a little bit?

Take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back.

You’re on the road to recovery.