Why “Catching Up” is a Myth

“I’m catching up today.” How many times do we say we’re catching up? Let’s be real. Catching up is a fallacy, a myth, a wish, a hope and just plain unrealistic.

Don’t get me wrong. We try. That’s why we work weekends and vacations and stay glued to the Blackberry and iPhone. We do this partly because we don’t want to miss anything—important or not—but mostly because we have this driving need to catch up.

I’m a culprit. I’m writing this blog over a weekend. What other work am I doing this weekend? Preparing for a sales presentation, connecting with people on LinkedIn, writing my newsletter, writing more blog posts, finishing a client proposal, sending emails to clients (and hearing back from them) and still looking at my “to-do” list—which still has more “to-dos.”

What’s the antidote? Options include:

• Adding resources to your team
• Choosing not to tackle certain projects
• Ignoring people on your team
• Dropping the ball
• Saying “no”

None of these options appears easy (or good business, for that matter). Something’s gotta give, and what stays has to matter.