I'm Busy. Bullshit, You Are Just Not Important Right Now!

I am busy you fool!

How many of use rang up someone and you got a reply back saying "Sorry, I'm busy right now, call back later" or "In a meeting, call back later"? I bet everyone has this moment. 

How about when you invite someone for a function and they say "Sorry, I have another appointment" or "Sorry, I am not too sure whether I will be able to make it"?  I use this all the time. 

How about the time you sent out a meeting invite which you have plan for fews weeks ahead, book the meeting room, prepared the coffee, got the projector working, printed our the handouts and the day come no one shows up. Why? Because the CEO called everyone in your invite list for an urgent meeting.

This got met pondering, it's not people are busy. It's how they prioritize their circles. Take for instance Google+. Once you sign up, the first thing you have to do is create Circles and add your friends in each respective Circle. Here you are actually determining who is important in your life. 

Google Circles

• Close friends, go into the Friend Circle
• People who you just met on the street, Twitter or Facebook, goes into Acquaintance Circle
• People who annoys you go into the Blocked option
• Important client goes into Very Important Person Circle
• so on and on..... 

The Mistress Calling

You see, any part of our life we subject our attention to what is most important to us. If the wife calls during meeting, you say "I'm busy with work, call back". Now, what if the mistress calls? What is responds like? :)

No one is really busy in their life, it's just people responds differently depending on the situation and the people they are interacting with. If the boss calls over the weekend, highly likely you will answer the call because, your job is at stake. If friends call over the weekend, you can decide whether to answer or not. If we do answer, then we still have the option of saying busy or otherwise.

What if your are waiting to close a major deal which your life depends on or a recruiter to your dream job says he/she will call you on Sunday between 9AM - 10PM. I bet the handphone is glued to your face 24 hours right? Because the particular is call is important and nothing else matters during that period. If someone else calls during the period, we would say "I'm waiting for important call" and click Cancel button because our fear that VIP call would not go thru.

We prioritize all the time and most time we make one party important and another less important.  We tend to break promises because of importance as well. Sometimes we make our work more important than anything else. I am guilty of this and I'll write about this in an upcoming blog post soon.

So what constitute busy? If your mother, wife and mistress calls you and you give the same answer, then you are busy.

So, next time someone says I'm busy, just know that he/she is bullshitting. You are just not important at the moment.