The real reason you’re always busy

We love Powrsuiters… And we study you.

Having welcomed over 800 Powrsuiters onto our professional development platform, we’ve learned a thing or two about the barriers to investing in yourself. So, when we spotted a group of new members struggling to protect time, we got curious, calling (yes, we care that deeply). Almost universally, they told us that ‘time’ is the issue – there simply isn’t enough of it. 

That will come as little shock to anyone; we live in a busyness epidemic. Except for one thing: Every single one of the people we spoke to answered an out-of-the-blue call from a random number. And they often spoke to us for 15 minutes – the exact amount of time it takes to participate in a mini-masterclass.

Time, it turns out, isn’t the issue. 

Flexibility is a double-edged sword

Powrsuit is deliberately flexible; We don’t expect you to do it all, and if you miss a live session, you can participate any time on demand. This flexibility is designed to help professional development fit into busy schedules, but it also removes the external pressure many of us have come to rely on.

Read that again: It removes the external pressure many of us have come to rely on.

This reliance shows up in all sorts of ways. It’s why we grab our phones when a notification pops up, book over time we’ve set aside for deep work, procrastinate until a deadline, struggle to say no… And answer calls even when we say we don’t have any time. 

It’s such an ingrained part of our operating model that we don’t even realise that other people think about their time differently. So today, we’re sharing three of the ways we’ve seen high performers let go of external pressure and embrace internal accountability to protect and manage their time: 

1. They believe their time is valuable

At the end of a recent mini-masterclass, a Powrsuiter shared a big lightbulb moment: “I value other people’s time more than my own”. Many of us can relate: We put our hands up because “no one else did”, stay late to pick up the slack, feel guilty when we relax and regularly change our plans around other people’s needs. 

If that describes you, it’s not your fault; this undervaluing of women’s time is a deeply entrenched unconscious bias. But it’s a bias we need to break – we have far more to offer than the ability to take on a heavy load. 

People who believe their time is valuable treat it as a precious, finite resource and allocate it carefully. We should, too.

2. They own their calendars

When Nat feels overwhelmed, she reminds herself that Obama managed to be President and exercise 6 days a week. She doesn’t do this to self-flagellate; she does it to gain perspective. 

In our experience, busyness has very little to do with importance, job title, or pressure. It tends to come down to one simple factor: People either control their own calendar, or it controls them.

The least ‘busy’ people protect their time fiercely (or have an EA who does it for them). And no, we know that’s not always possible. No one was going to tell Obama to get off the treadmill, but we don’t all enjoy that same presidential privilege. Sometimes, our jobs dictate where we are and when… But sometimes they don’t. 

Just because we can’t control everything doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take control where we can. More often than we realise, it’s ok to say ‘no, I can’t come’ because we already have an appointment with ourselves. 

People who own their calendars find opportunities to protect time for themselves. We can do that too, even if we start with just 30 minutes a month.

3. They use deliberate language

We know language shapes mindsets, and most of us are using it to convince ourselves we’re not in control.

When we say “I can’t afford it” or “I’m too busy”, we adopt a victim role – positioning ourselves as powerless participants in our own lives. Often, the truth is that we could afford it and we could find the time; we just prioritise other things. 

Words are powerful; they shape how we perceive a situation and how others perceive us. 

Deliberate language puts us in the driver’s seat of our own lives. We’re not helpless, we’re making proactive decisions about where to invest our time, effort and money. We’re choosing not to go out to dinner because we don’t want to get into debt, or because we’re saving money for something more valuable. We’re choosing not to say yes to that invite because, quite frankly, we’d prefer to sit on the couch watching the Gilded Age.

People who take ownership of their language take accountability for their actions. With a simple change to the words we use, we can do the same.

Internal accountability is a practice

External pressure is very real. We all have deadlines, responsibilities and expectations we need to meet. But that shouldn’t stop us from building internal accountability wherever we can. 

We know these biases are baked in. We’ve been taught that it’s selfish to prioritise ourselves, so we have to practice doing just that. And if that feels too uncomfortable to do for your own benefit, remember we are role models: Younger women pay attention to how we use our time to understand the value of their own.