The Urban Farmer: Killing Busy So You Can Live – A Productivity Episode (FSFS51)

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It seems like a lot of people that get into farming and starting their own business are busy, all the time.

Is that a good thing?

Is busy a sign of success or is busy a sign of planning?

I think it’s more the later, than the form.

“To me, ‘busy’ implies that the person is out of control of their life.” – Derek Sivers

Some of you might here that and think, what, that’s crazy. I am in control and I am busy.

Are you really?

After all, what is busy in the first place.

Is busy really a think or is busy a state of mind or is as Derek Sivers says the inevitable result of losing control and poor planning?

If you consider yourself someone who’s busy a lot think about that.

Are you busy because you actually have a huge list of urgent and important things to do, or are you busy because you are just doing a lot of stuff.

Outside of the Emergency Room most of us are more likely are the latter. Not many of us have a lot of urgent and important things to do each day. We might have a couple things that fall into that category and then we have a lot of other stuff that we do because we need to, because we think we need to, because we’ve never really thought about it, and because we don’t have a plan in place.

Busy might actually be in your control.

As Henry David Thoreau said, it’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

If you find yourself constantly busy. Ask yourself why. And ask yourself what are you busy about?

Remember, it’s your life, and being busy all the time might not be optimum. Is that you really signed up for – being busy all the time? If not, then this episode may help you re-frame what you are actually being so busy about.

Productivity Tips and Tricks for A Farmer

• “It’s not enough to be busy.  So are the ants.  The question is: What are we busy about?” Henry David Thoreau

• “To me, busy, implies that the person is out of control of their life.” Derek Sivers

• “What we call stress is just extension of being busy without meaning. When you do things that are not meaningful to you, just to get the sense of completion, just to feel like you got something done, your spirit feels empty. So, the most important thing for people to realize is that you have to control the flow of information in your life.” Tony Robbins

• When you are working on something – focus on just that task and suddenly a little unfocused time because A LOT of FOCUSED time.

• “When I thrive I have to be very clear with my time and what I get out of that time.”

• When is your most creative,productive time of day.  Can you try to do your most creative/productive stuff then?

• If you create a plan for your time, stick to the plan.  Problems arise when you deviate.  That’s when you feel guilty.

• Give yourself time off.  Schedule it.

• The APP that Curtis uses – Wunderlist

• Planning for Curtis… “I have a loose framework, I have an idea of what I need to achieve, and how I get there will change along the way.”

• If you have a bunch of options that all have equal waiting, don’t’ overthink it.  What do you feel like doing that helps move you forward, do that.

• What is the measurable return of your actions?

• Stephen Covey’s matrix – Urgent vs. Important – from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  

• If you are saying yes to something, then you are saying no to something else.

• Make sure you are doing stuff that you enjoy.  You didn’t sign up for this to be busy ALL OF THE TIME.
  

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Learn More from Curtis Stone:

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