Working Moms: Are you suffering from Action Illusion?

Action Illusion can happen to the best of us. It's when you fill your time and space with busyness - lots of different things that fill your entire day - but how much of it is just an illusion of action? How much of it is actually moving you forward in a positive, meaningful way? Good grief, you and I know that our time can easily be filled up, but is it causing us more burnout? We need to make sure that what we do makes a positive difference, and if it doesn’t – stop it! Here's a way of identifying the things you do which are illusions of action and those which are actual, positive steps forward. • Draw a circle - the bigger, the better. I find this exercise works best if you’re standing up, so if you can find a large piece of paper to pin to the wall on which to do this - go for it! • Grab a pack of Post It notes and for each task (phone calls; meetings; projects, kids stuff, partner stuff, house stuff, chores, shopping, admin, etc.) that you have to do, write each one on a Post It note. It's best to do this as quickly as you can and each time you write something down, put the Post it note into the circle. • Once you've exhausted yourself (literally!), stand back and have a look at them. Then for each item on there, ask yourself this question: On a scale of 1 - 10 (1 being "virtually none" to 10 being "completely") How much is this task positively moving me/my project/my family/my team/my business/the home forward? Write the number in red on each Post It note. • For any Post It note that has 7 or less - remove the Post It and put it on the outside of the circle. • Any Post its that remain inside your circle are the ones that you should continue doing, as they're positively contributing to your moving forward in some way. The others are simply Illusions of Action - contributing to your feeling of "busyness" but not actually being that meaningful or fruitful – in fact, they probably cause you more stress! Now’s the time to be brave. Go on – I dare ya! Pick one thing on the outside of your circle and be ruthless. Stop doing it. Notice the difference it makes in your life this week - and if the world hasn't ended, pick another one next week. One item at a time - and you'll soon see the difference in a positive, productive, Fired Up you, rather than someone suffering from Action Illusion!