To all my loyal friends and followers, my apologies for not writing. It has been almost a week and I have been remiss. Could provide a ton of excuses like sinus infection, home repair issues, family controversy or maybe just the simple lack of interest. Anyway, I am back and intend to return to a somewhat daily writing schedule.
I could have simply said "I was busy" as my excuse for not writing. And believe me I have used this term more often than not. But recently I was rubbed the wrong way when I heard the phrase. It's very true that we are all pretty busy with our daily lives and sometimes we just cannot get to the appointment, task or call we said we were going to address.
The problem is this statement almost implies that your time is more valuable than anyone else's time. If you are too busy to return an email message or a call isn't that really just saying there are so many more important things to do and that the return call or message is just not a priority?
My friends are terrific and deal with me when I am slow to respond or when I prioritize over them. I think I am just as understanding.... in the friendship relationship. That's why they are friends. In business of course prioritizing is always a key task and professionals are constantly walking the line between significant urgent and nice to have. It's a skill to really manage time in your personal life as well as your professional life.
So I am working on eliminating the phrase "I'm too busy" and those like it. Instead maybe I should use an honest yet somewhat off-putting phrase like:
- I can't bear to discuss this with you so I am not returning your call
- You are so boring that I will always have higher priorities
- I don't like doing this so I will procrastinate until the very end
- Guess I forgot because this is so unimportant to me
Ok, these are mean. I'll find something in between.
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