You’re Not as Busy as You Think You Are
You Just Don’t Know It Yet
Americans have an almost insane infatuation with the state of busyness. We claim it every time we’re asked to a meeting or a party. It’s what we tell our managers when they ask us to work weekends or overtime. It’s practically a self-awarded badge of honor.
This state of busyness permeates the American culture of the past. But digitization has only exacerbated the unfortunate side effect — our fear of relaxing.
One of the problems with digitization is that once you gain instantaneous access to the world, the world gains instantaneous access back. Our phones and computers ensure that even when we lack access to school or work, school or work has access to us.
I’ve received texts from my boss at two in the morning. I’ve been sleeping soundly — only to be woken up by another telephone call. I’ve had clients think I’m at their beck-and-call, 24/7, 365 days a year. I’ve been there.
From the moment we wake up to the moment we crash back down, we’re interconnected with anything and everything. So whatever you want from us, we’re far too busy to give to you.
Or so it seems.
The truth is, we have far more time than we think we do. We’ve been culturally conditioned to treat busyness as a native state.
Being free isn’t natural to us anymore.
Being free means we’re being unproductive.
Being free means we’re not making money.
Being free means we’re not valuable.
This constant state can wreak havoc on your mental health and result in undesired overcorrections.
Like most of my contemporaries, I felt myself being pulled in a thousand directions at once. The constant stress I felt was derived from the constant demands for my attention and time, and once I finally gained a moment to myself, I became selfish.
I would spend long stretches of time alone from others — forgiving myself for my misanthropy while lounging around in pajamas and generally being a waste of space.
I did this to feel in control. To feel like I was making the choice to be lethargic and sedentary. How nice it is to take a break from the obligations of the modern world. Or, at least how nice it seems.
In reality, when we think of ourselves as constantly busy, we’re less productive with our work time, and even more worthless in our downtime. And the worst part is, we seem to be just fine with that state of affairs.
There’s a simple way to become productive. And that solution has nothing to do with denying others or rearranging your schedule — or even changing your routine.
All you have to do, is be aware.
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
— Seneca The Younger
Time Waste Online
Back in 2015, one of my new year’s resolutions was to enable a tracking device on my own computer. Privacy concerns aside, the goal was to take a hard look at which websites and which programs were taking up most of my time.
After about a year, I assembled the results. To be clear — I’m not proud of what you’re about to read. But it’s important to show that when I thought of myself as busy, I was only fooling myself.
Over the course of 377 days, I had spent over 1,000 hours online.
That’s 42 days. The number seems reasonable now as a freelance writer, but at the time? I had no excuse for so much screen time.
The most productive website that I frequented at the time was WriterDuet — a screenwriting software I used (and continue to use) to create many short films and feature-length projects. Do you know how much time I actually got anything done on WriterDuet over the course of that year?
58 hours.
When you break that down, only 5% of my Internet usage was dedicated to creative endeavors or furthering my craft. To compare, about 50% of my Internet usage cycled between YouTube and Reddit.
Now, your Internet habits may differ greatly from mine. And Lord — I hope they do. But taking a hard look at the statistics behind your Internet usage will enable you to be more aware of the time you waste. It might be more than you think.
Tracking Time Offline
The next step you can take to increase your awareness is to manually write down how you spend your time offline. A good way to approach this may be to change your phone’s lock screen to show a message that reminds you to update your physical logs. Make sure you update every time you switch or stop tasks.
At the end of the week, add up the hours you spent sleeping or eating each day, the hours you worked, and the hours you were commuting. The difference is between that number and number hours in the week (168) is the true amount of free time you have weekly.
When I did this, I realized that — even with a job, school, and other obligations — I was averaging almost 5 hours of “missing time” per day. Much of this time was wasted during working hours, when I would take lengthy breaks, or in between work and school, when I would lounge around to “decompress.”
Your Life As Your Job
After accessing the amount of time I wasted, I wanted to flip the script on the time I was loosing. After accessing where the time went, I began to add up the time I spent working each day — be it on school, at my job, or even at home. I used a clock-in, clock-out system. Any time I would stop — even for a bathroom break or to text a friend — I would clock-out.
I found that even on whole days set aside for work, I was averaging only 90 to 150 minutes on productive tasks. Now that I was aware of the issue, I spent less time trying to distract myself and more time trying to focus on completing more work at a better pace.
I applied the same idea to screenwriting, hobbies, making phone calls, and general errands. The end result was always the same — I cut the amount of time it took to accomplish important tasks in half. Then, in half again.
Results & Applications
I learned a great deal during my little experiment. I figured out that being prudent with your time results in significantly less stress — and, significantly more time to yourself.
If you’re trying to work from home, launch a business, or just get a grip on your productivity, I strongly urge you to become more aware of where your time goes. Even if that means utilizing different methods than the ones I described above.
After finding problem areas in your routine or schedule, it may be helpful to take what you’ve learned and apply it to your daily routine. Similarly, once you’ve observed for yourself where your time goes, subtracting what’s unnecessary from your schedule will help you cultivate more freedom and minimize your stress.
Stop embracing busyness like it’s a badge of honor. It’s not. Embrace being smarter with your schedule and using your time efficiently and effectively.
I think you’ll find it’s a much more satisfying feeling.
