Fola Daniel Adelesi: Pretending to Be Busy

As a consultant I always have the privilege of helping people out with one thing or the other – especially with getting a meaningful life and getting their businesses up and running. Through this phase, one of the most amazing things I have ever seen is jobless people or people who don’t have much to do, pretending to be busy.

These are people who really need help with their situations and you have played your own part by rendering services at almost next to nothing in terms of cost; yet, they create this impression of being so busy and they think that explains why they didn’t get back to you immediately for important issues.

I am amazed at people who want you to call them several times before they answer their calls. I am shocked when people just want to make it look like it is hard to see them or difficult to get them. These are young people who are still aspiring to succeed! Interestingly when I call elderly people who are really busy by virtue of positions they hold and responsibilities they have, they answer their calls almost immediately. Sometimes some of these elderly people miss their calls and they return the call. These are people who have achieved and should be difficult to access but they can sometimes be the easiest to see.

Most times, what I have discovered is that those pretending to be busy are people who are indecisive, are a little confused and are not getting their priorities right. In some other cases, it is a clear issue of indiscipline and procrastination.

When this happens, you have a situation where people are pretending to be busy… even for those who will help them. Someone who has not achieved anything serious in life will not answer calls when you call him or her. He will tell you he was busy. Some people hand their phones over to other people to take their calls just to really look so busy and these things even continue until they lose vital relationships.

If you are in this situation you need to get down from your high horse. I am not saying you have to open your time to everyone; but why pretend to be busy when you actually need help? There may be people who are time wasters and you don’t want to have anything to do with them. There are those who frustrate you and it’s okay if you avoid such people. Outside of those situations, why will you act as though you are busy when you are simply trying to create an impression?

There are people who have pretended to be so busy until they lost vital information that needed to be passed across to them. Some people are still doing it today and that is something that will cost them far much more than they bargained for.

What you need to do instead of acting too busy is to come up with a system that helps you sift the serious and unserious people. You have to be accessible to people who can help and add value to you, especially when you are just rising in life. Sometimes you can’t tell who will be of help until you have heard them.

There those who are also genueinly busy but you need to work out a way to relate with people so that they don’t get frustrated just trying to reach you. If people can’t reach you they will go away from you. You can’t afford lose people just because you are busy. If you don’t remember anything that you have read so far, please remember that anything that keeps you too busy to relate with people can destroy you.

Let me remind you that pretending to be busy does not add any value to you, especially if you are giving this impression to people who can add value to you. Just be yourself. Be open and go about your business normally.

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