Are you too busy living to create a life? Are you too busy working to create a career? Are you too busy managing rather than becoming a business leader? Are you just too busy because being busy is the only thing you know how to do?

Did you know that Warren Buffet only works three hours a day? Obviously someone with his wealth doesn’t have to work at all. How do you think people like him got that way? I assure you they didn’t get that way by being too busy to create the life they wanted. They set a side time to plan and balance their life beyond showing up day after day performing the same tasks and maintaining the status quo. They made plans, and weren’t afraid to change to achieve their goals.

Stephen Covey once proclaimed you should “Begin with the end in mind.” I have talked with people about getting into better shape and living a healthier life. I had that conversation with myself many times before it began to sink in. I have now vowed to do a better job and you can to. I have spoken with supervisors, managers and owners of businesses that say they are too busy to do another thing or something new. Now, take a breath and hold on because you must stop telling yourself you are too busy. You are not too busy to get exactly what you want out of life, your job and your relationships

You must make informed choices. “Doing the Same thing Over and Over, and Yet Expecting Different Results” is what Albert Einstein described as the true definition of insanity. As an inventor of many things, do you think he knew a thing or two about this concept? After all, if he had done the same thing over and over he wouldn’t be in the history books today. You must make time to do things differently today or you’ll be in exactly the same circumstances tomorrow. I’m not really telling you anything you don’t already know. You simply have not reached a tipping point. You’ve not recognized or visualized your next steps or the need to change.

It’s never too late to decide to make changes. We have all heard of the 5-P’s, “Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance”. No truer statement has ever been uttered. Do you feel the need to follow those who have gone before you? Why are you so afraid to blaze a new trail? I know what you are saying, it’s just too easy to avoid changing paths, and you are too busy. Now I ‘m not suggesting you re-invent every wheel, but I do suggest you challenge the process if you plan to improve your future. What happens when you improve on an existing product or idea? You are in fact blazing a new trail. Maybe you do this in the same direction but you begin with the end in mind. The point I am trying to make is that you and only you can make these changes and improve the things around you. No one else can make these choices for you.

After speaking with owners, managers and supervisors, I have found the unsuccessful all have one thing in common: they are Too Busy to get things done. I have talked with them about the need for reducing and managing paperwork while creating a paperless system in their work place. They say they haven’t the time. Either I didn’t sell the benefit of saving time, or they just didn’t get it. It has been said that 80 percent of the things we do everyday don’t accomplish a thing. Twenty percent of the things we do make all the difference in the world. This principle challenges the theory that we are too busy to improve performance, revealing that freeing up even a little more time allows us to do more important things like improving performance.

The buck begins and ends with you. Decisions must be made individually before they can be made collectively. So don’t get too busy conducting your day to day business that you cannot see the holes in the road a head. You will never be where you are today. You will never be younger or more in control. Don’t let each and every moment pass you by without the breeze of your involvement. So when you think you are too busy, remember the 80/20 principle and think again!

Originally appeared on Ezine Articles