I'm getting that feeling again.
Remember pre-economic recession boom times?
Those steady, unpredictable waves of energy (commitments and decisions) that came crashing in on your calendar? No, today's waves are not near as big as the waves back then but the regularity of these smaller waves is increasing.
I've wrestled for years with this concept of "busy", particularly in regards to the excuse "I'm just too busy to develop my business proactively (i.e., prospecting, marketing)".
Every business has a cycle. No one (I repeat) no one is insanely busy all the time. (Or, at least it's such a rarity as to render it statistically insignificant). Most people get to the valley and after rising disoriented and dizzy from their hilltop season of panic, decide that it is time to take a break. Once refreshed, they then ask themselves, "now, what will I do?". By the time they formalize a plan, the upward climb begins, business starts to increase, which, in most cases, means, clients and projects begin to select you, as opposed to you selecting clients and projects - an important distinction that will determine the outcome of your income.
The problem with this is that your life is now reduced to responding. Someone else determines what will be important to you, they own your calendar and therefore, your future. Welcome to the endless roller coaster of reactionism.
The solution is to proactively plan what you will do in the valley: what you plant, where you plant, and of course, whether you plant at all. I've made peace with the fact that in order to sustain the business I have, I can make amends with my calendar and make up for lost development time by having (and enacting) a proactive plan before I get to the valley. I can still structure rest, in fact, my rest is more effective because it is truly guilt-free and reassuring: I know exactly what I will do when I emerge.
The harvest might occur on the hilltop but the real work happens down in the valleys. What are you proactively doing in the valleys to enlarge your landscape for the future?
(This post is archived in my category, "Note to Self", for obvious reasons).
P.S. This short (9:15) video from Hans Rosling is worth your time. If innovation and technology has made room for more in your life, you have to ask yourself, what is the "more"?
