Too Busy? I Call Bullshi*.

Being ‘Busy’ is quite the modern-day malaise. For many of us it has become not just our automated response but also our badge of honour.

‘How Am I? Well – you know – Busy.’

‘Crazy Busy’.

‘Non-Stop’.

‘There are Not-Enough-Hours in the Day’.

But why in fact are we so goddamn busy all the time? Let’s take a quick look at 5 reasons we might not be finding enough time in our days. Which one of these bad boys is your excuse?

1. Ego – Look how important and busy I am. So many people need me it is exhausting. No one can do all of this stuff better than me. This state of busyness is usually driven by insecurity, stemming from the belief we are missing something – if we are always busy then maybe we are enough?
2. Fear – What happens if I stop being busy? For some of us this incessant busyness is a sign we are a bit scared of…..ourselves. A study published in the Science journal outlines an experiment where participants were left in a room alone for 15 minutes. Over half of them disliked the feeling and in further studies chose to self-administer an electric shock rather than sit in silence by themselves. Yup – hurt themselves, rather than just be with themselves.
3. Perception – Are you really too busy? Some of it may just come down to self-created busyness. Filling every hour of the day with stuff, much of it which serves little purpose. Checking our emails incessantly, liking people’s sunsets or discovering ‘Which Woodland Character Are You?’. Life is short and Facebook quizzes are stupid. If you have time to find out ‘Which Facebook Friend would Take a Bullet for You?’, you are not that busy. Fact.
4. Lack of Priorities – Too busy to do the stuff you really want to? Tim Ferris gets this one right when he says, ‘Lack of time is lack of priorities. If I’m ‘busy’, it is because I’ve made choices that put me in that position.’ No time to exercise? Not a minute to myself? Pah. Who is steering the ship exactly? – You. Maybe instead of trying to do the 4 billion things on your ‘To Do’ list start with the ones you have to do, followed quickly by the things you want to do. We can all be ‘busy’ doing lots of meaningless things but being busy and getting things done are not the same thing.
5. Wanting Too Much – Busy trying to get/have/do everything? More power to all you Type A’s out there but if you equate ‘too busy’ with being totally stressed out maybe you might prefer life off the hamster wheel? Some of us are so busy making more money when what we really want is more time. To do the things that are important to us. Or to spend time with the people who matter to us. Do we need more money? To be that successful? To be the absolute best at whatever it is we are doing? Would wanting a little bit less actually allow us to slow down and stop with the busy?

If you allow yourself a moment to consider what is fuelling your busyness, you might find a way to slow it down in its tracks.

There again – ‘aint nobody got time for that’.

Derek Sivers, a man who says a lot of smart things, sums it up well when he says, ‘Every time people contact me, they say, ‘Look, I know you must be incredibly busy…’ and I always think, ‘No, I’m not.’ Because I’m in control of my time. I’m on top of it. ‘Busy,’ to me, seems to imply ‘out of control’.

Too Busy? I call Bullshi*.

There are enough hours in the day. It’s up to you to decide how to spend them.

This Get Happier post is brought to you by somebody who feels a little siesta coming on.