The impression of Busyness

When I was starting out, and even up till today, I would come across people who gave off a very 'I'm busy' kind of vibe.

I think I know what busy is. The type that pushes you to the limit. The feeling of juggling so many things at once. The anxiety of not knowing what the impact of some of your actions are. The helplessness as lists of things to be done go undone because of one meeting that went over the expected timeframe.

Being busy is a state of mind. And I think it's a choice. You can also CHOOSE to portray a vibe of being busy, regardless whether you are truly busy or not. Ever met someone who seem to be able to only spare you 4 and half minutes (when you’ve actually scheduled that meeting) before he had to rush off to something. And you just see him later at a cafe checking his phone?

I remembered certain individuals who gave me the cold shoulder because I was starting out and hadn't even nailed my introduction yet. (Some call it the elevator pitch) These usually happened at networking events. I got the “yeah, I know what you do, don’t waste my time” treatment many times.

The thing is... we have NO idea how things are going to turn out for us. We won't know what will happen to us in future, nor will we know what will happen to the person we are talking to. We don't know when we may cross paths again, and under which circumstances.

I've seen people I met who were in a position of asking, turn to people I need to ask things from. I've met someone who was a job applicant, turning into someone who is paying me as a client years down the road. I had a client who turned out to be a team mate years down the road. I’ve pitched my services to people who eventually pitched to me for their services.

We tend to remember extremes — either very kind people or very mean people. Let's not find ourselves in a situation where we regret how we treat the other person. We won’t know what the future holds. It doesn’t hurt to be kind.