Busy is not that cool anymore.
Do you ever ask anyone ‘how they’re doing?’ only to get the response…
“I am sooooo busy” - and delivered with just a twinge of pride?
I have been that person. I will fully admit that I sometimes wear my “busy badge” with honor.
But lately, I am just not that impressed with my busy self. Being busy is worn out, and frankly not on trend anymore.
At my last job, I used to feel great pride in reviewing my conquered check list at the end of each day thinking, “DAAAAMN, I got a lot done - go me!” I felt like a superhero. (And honestly, I can be a task-master machine…truly remarkable sometimes. It’s a gift and a curse).
You know the saying:
If you want to get something done…give it to a busy person.
Well it’s true.
And it’s because the overachieving, boundary-lacking, busy people are the only group of mentally ill individuals who keep saying ‘yes.’
Yes, I called myself “mentally ill,” and not to be insensitive, but just to bring seriousness to the fact that booking your days end-to-end is 100% compromising our mental health.
Productivity is not measured on how many “to-dos” I can cross off in a day. It’s measured in impact, and I can’t be of value to anyone if I don’t have the space and time to think creatively and strategically.
There are always going to be days where we just need to hunker down and get a lot done. And that’s OK. Sometimes it can even be fun.
But instead of being just “busy, for busy’s sake,” it is my goal to start creating more intentional margins in my day - to allow for deep work. To say ‘no’ to meetings, and allow space to get focused and energized. To truly prioritize what matters, and in return, hopefully do more meaningful work. Everyone wins.
I am not an expert in this yet, but dear God I am trying.
I know that this notion of “work smarter, not harder” is not new, but frankly, not a lot of people are good at it yet. Which means, we need to bring more awareness to the belief that, “BUSY IS NOT COOL!”
Next time someone responds to your inquiry on their well-being with “SOOOO busy…” maybe we should start responding back with,
“Oh no! What are you doing to change that?”
I would love to hear from you all.
How do you make time to create more space in your day?
Open forum. Go.
