Are You Really That Busy?
Posted by Rohit Rohila | Posted in Communication, Life, Productivity, Subconscious | Posted on 07-04-2008
A few days ago, I ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in a few years. After the pleasantries, I asked her how she has been. She got a frustrated look and said, “I’ve been good, just really busy.” Then she asked me how I have been, and I thought about all of my projects, and also said, “I’ve been good, just really busy”. Now this is the part that I found interesting, she gave me a look in which I knew that she did not believe me. That’s what got me thinking about this topic.
If you ask anyone, at anytime, how they are doing, you will always get the standard response, “I’ve been good, just really busy.” My question is simple, are people really as busy as they claim? There are several reasons why people give the default answer of “I’ve been busy.” Lets take a look at a few of the top reasons:
- Subconscious: Again, my favorite topic, the Subconscious. The subconscious works by believing in repeated messages. If you always say “I’m Busy”, “I’m Busy”, “I’m Busy”, can you guess what the message that your subconscious receives… “I’m Busy”. Again, it doesn’t matter if you are telling the truth or not, to the subconscious, everything is the truth. So not only do you convince yourself that you are busy, but you feel better about yourself.
- Ego: Everyone likes to feel good about themselves, right? So if you say to someone “I’ve been busy”, even though they most likely won’t believe you, it still feels better than saying “I’ve been slacking off and watching TV.”
- Confusion With Being Productive: There is a huge difference in being “Busy” and bring “Productive”. Playing video games all day will keep me busy, but not productive.
- General Answer: For most people, saying “I’ve been Busy” is just a quick standard response.
Now, instead of saying that I’ve just “been busy”, and sending a message to my subconscious to find ways to prove itself right and focuses on keeping me “busy”, I say that I’ve “been productive”. My subconscious now focuses on finding ways on making me more productive.
Give it a try. For the next few people you meet, take a look at their reactions when you simply say that you are “busy” compared to if you say that you are “productive.” If you say you are busy, they will just pass it off as a standard answer, but if you say that you have been productive, they will ask you what you have been up to and show more interest in you.

Right now I am at the Dentist Office typing this on my laptop. While in the waiting room, I looked around and saw 5 people patiently sitting. Of the 5, one was reading a magazine, one was reading a romance novel, and the other three were sitting around frustrated because their appointment was at 11 and it was now 11:15.
3 years ago I went to my first personal development seminar geared towards Network Marketing and Home Based Businesses. The guest of honor was Jeffery Combs, world-known personal development author and coach. At the end of the seminar, there was an offer to purchase all of his personal development tools for the price of $400, half off the regular price of $800. Having already paid $50 for the seminar (looking back, I wish all of my seminars I have gone to were this cheap) and I was not looking forward to spending anymore money. Can you already see my error in my judgment? After I had thanked Jeffery for his time and for sharing his story, I was getting ready to walk out the door. Suddenly, I looked over, and saw most of the top leaders purchasing the personal development tools. I knew then that if I wanted to be a leader someday, I must do what the leaders do. I didn’t have the $400, but I did have $200. I spoke to my sponsor and we decided to purchase and share the tools with each other.