In recommending Michael Hyatt’s book, Free to Focus, fellow best-selling author Cal Newport declared: “Busyness is meaningless. What matters is consistently executing the work that actually matters. This book shows you how.”
While I too recommend Hyatt’s excellent and practical book, today I simply want to focus on that statement from Cal Newport: “Busyness is meaningless.”
Let’s think about what it means to be busy. I would venture to say that most of us lead what we would characterize as very busy lives. Between fitting in full work schedules, family responsibilities, household chores and errands, social lives, community involvement, personal health and fitness, and maybe even a few hobbies and enjoyable pastimes, we barely have time to breathe!
Even if you are an empty-nester or a content retiree, it’s likely that your days are still filled with some level of activity and busyness. While the drive to stay busy does vary from culture to culture, I feel confident in saying that at least in Western culture, “busy” is normal.
But why? Why do we seem to equate a busy life with a full life? We tend to fill up even our “downtime,” more likely to seek entertainment from our phone or TV (“needing” to see what’s happening on the news or social media, “needing” to finish watching the next show in our favorite series) than to allow ourselves to be still and reflect or—heaven forbid—feel boredom.
Do we really need to always be busy? What would our lives look like if we narrowed down our daily schedules to the work and activities that actually matter, and then allowed ourselves the space to actually rest and step back from constant busyness?
What do you think? What is your take on the statement, “busyness is meaningless?”
