Last week, I had the pleasure of finally meeting up with Neil Patel in person.
Neil helped me get my job with Empire Flippers when I first reached out and asked for a quick video recording.
He didn’t know me, but I knew exactly who he was. His articles helped me in my early days of internet marketing and his content got my website to the traffic levels it’s at today.
And if I had to think of a list titled 10 People Who Can Truly Say “I’m Too Busy”, Neil would definitely be on there.
Without a doubt, he’s getting tons of emails every day, soliciting advice or partnership deals. His phone has to be ringing every other minute.
He’s started several successful software companies (two of which I use today) and is definitely on the radar.
But yet, before he knew my name, he took the time to answer me on his personal phone and recorded a 10-second video to help me get a job.
He replies to my emails when I check in to see how he’s doing, despite the fact that I’ve never benefited him in any way or even met him in person.
Two weeks ago, I decided to call him up on the phone to see if he happened to be in California.
“I’m not, but I will be this weekend.”
Awesome! So I asked him when he’d be free to meet up.
“Any time. You choose.”
Okay, what the hell?
Neil is baller status. He’s supposed to be unreachable.
But he made time. He’s made time every instance he wanted to.
Neil isn’t the only one who gets a pass on the “I’m too busy card.” There are tons of people who are work machines with schedules that you’d think wouldn’t allow them to see the light of day.
Yet, you find them keeping up with simple daily routines like going to the gym every morning (or night.)
You find that they are on top of their email game.
You find that they’re not stingy with their time.
Several of the people who helped me with the video recording last year have packed schedules. They made time anyway.
So I smile a bit every time I hear someone say, “I’m too busy to _____”. I can’t help but laugh when I catch myself saying that only to realize a split-second later that it’s not true.
Our New Years’ Resolution should be to never utter that sentence.
If you can’t fit in an hour at the gym every night or time to read before bed because you think you’re too busy then those activities aren’t important enough to you. Or you’re lying.
None of us are as busy as we think.
Make time.
I completely agree with you here; We make time in our lives for the things we want to do. If we’re “too busy,” it’s really us saying we don’t want to bother with that task because it’s not important to us. I’m trying to get better with pushing unimportant things aside for the things I really want to do with no excuses of being “too busy”.
Yup! I notice that I drop what I’m doing (assuming it’s not truly important) and hop on opportunities to do what I genuinely enjoy when the chance presents itself. Things I’m not too eager with? Forget about it!
Vincent,
Awesome message. Time is rarely the culprit. No matter how much you have, you still won’t have enough if you don’t know how to use it properly. I still love your story about getting the video together to get your job. Thanks for reminding me. Hope all is well buddy.
Scott
All is well over here. Hope you’re having a strong start to the new year. 🙂
so inspiring ,cannot wait to put a comment as I am using desk top computer . It is hard to catch up with e-mail things on cell phone and many rely on that tiny mobile I feel sorry for them as it is not the right tool to use all day long to text and then say ,I do not have time .
Even it saves lot of time too . Please write an article on cell phone addiction and still no time to say hi to loved one’s if I talk about my son . He is too busy even a software engineer on highest position . No time for family ,no time for exercise etc . What is the use of that money which makes you a machine . Thanks for reminder we have few minutes once a while for friends and family and how you manage to write an article every week for inspiring people like me .Happy new year and this is the best promise we have to make about time availability .
Hey Shashi,
Appreciate the topic suggestion. Although I’m not sure I’m the right candidate to write about cell phone addiction, I do like the topic of overworking, making tons of money, but ultimately not enjoying your life.
Bit of a heavy topic but it’s interesting.
Vincent,
First of all, i would like to express my gratitude for all the post that you’d made. To be honest, those articles had brought many benefits and good vibes in my life. All of them are really motivated and very inspiring. In fact, my english is improving day by day. Btw, happy new year! Hope that you will continue your great work here and stay healthy. Looking forward your upcoming articles.
Akmal, I’m glad I’m able to make an impact. Best of luck to you in the new year.
Wow, this definitely strikes a chord, and couldn’t be more timely. I wonder though how Neil Patel and others do such attainment; realizing you’re not that busy is still far from actually having good time management…
I think it’s a combination of things: personal priority system along with the realization that emergencies rarely happen. Tim Ferriss talks about the latter quite a bit in Four Hour Workweek–re-reading after having lived the location independent lifestyle for a year gives fresh perspective on his concepts.
4HWW is one of my books for 2015 😀
It’s got to be moved up higher on your list! I’ve just finished the re-reading session and it’s got me back on fire. 🙂
Your post makes my stomach uneasy. Not like bad, more like sad. It makes me think of all the occasions when I felt like I needed to call somebody close or be by their side. Just out of the blue. And I was too busy. And then that time would never come. So now I stay in the present and try not to look too far in front or behind. ‘Cause that’s all we have. And I’m never too busy anymore. Thanks for reminding us Vincent. Happy New Year 🙂 !
Not too late to dial right now, Nick. 🙂
Hey Vincent, how are you?! I am inspired by your story in this post. That gives me a shot of adrenaline to work on my goals especially that of reaching out to these big names and just trying it out!
I just lot my day job but continuing doing my work on marketing. And yes, I need a lot of this!
Hey Rob! Always a pleasure to see you here.
Keep on pushing forward on your marketing work. You’re going to make it a great year. 🙂