I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t say they are “too busy.”  Whether it’s “too busy” to pursue their goals and dreams, “too busy” to take care of themselves, “too busy” to keep up with their current commitments, or “too busy” to have a few moments to themselves to rest.

I heard about a mindset on a podcast — where I receive all my good advice these days, that I think could help those in the “too busy” camp.

The idea is “Eliminate, Automate, Delegate.”

First, you’re going to look at your schedule and all of your current commitments and you’re going to see what you can simply eliminate.  So often we keep doing things out of habit or guilt, but at the end of the day, if something happened to us or our schedules that wouldn’t allow us to do that thing anymore — life would go on just fine.  Maybe your “eliminate” isn’t a weekly commitment of some kind, but maybe it’s just a choice you’re making of who you’re calling, who you’re having lunch with, or just negative people in general that you could eliminate from your weekly schedule.

Next, you’re going to look at your schedule and all of your current commitments and you’re going to see what you can automate.  What tasks do you do on repeat that can be scheduled or done without your manual intervention?  This would be things like paying bills online that could be scheduled or set up for auto-pay, if you run a business and post on social media you could use a website that allow you to load your posts on the weekend and the site will post for you throughout the week.  What do you do every week that basically a robot can do for you?

Lastly, you’re goin to look at your schedule and all of your current commitments and you’re going to see what you can delegate.  You don’t have to be a boss or have an assistant to delegate.  Can you start using clicklist, shipt, or instacart to have someone else pick up your groceries for you?  Can you have someone clean your home?  Does your dry cleaner pick up and drop off for no charge?  Can you hire the neighbor kid to mow or shovel snow?

The idea behind this is to leave yourself with a list of items only you can do.  Only you have the special skills, talent, or interest to do them.  For example, I can delegate my grocery shopping via Instacart, but I cannot delegate writing my book.  I can automate our bill pay, but I cannot automate spending time with my family and friends.

By evaluating options to eliminate, automate, or delegate — you’re reducing “busy” and freeing up time to focus on the things that can only be done by you!