Busy Signals

Are you super busy? I know hardly anyone who would answer “no” to that question. Many of us are more than busy--we’re exhausted. But when we look a little deeper, it’s clear that busy doesn’t always mean the same thing.

In the best case, busy just means that we’re really engaged and leaning in. The only real danger there is that we might be so engaged that we are neglecting other parts of our lives.

Sometimes being too busy means that we’ve maxed out the available time for the demands we’re facing. That’s when it’s time to prioritize, and to delegate or hire out as much as we reasonably can. 

Sometimes we get too busy because we’re immersed in putting out fires, and not thinking long term. We need to make sure we carve out some time for deeper, more strategic thinking. Sometimes going slow helps us go smoothly, and in the long run smooth is fast.

Finally, there’s the busy that we inflict on ourselves, as a distraction from the fact that we’re stuck or going in the wrong direction. Busy isn’t always productive, and even productivity isn’t useful if you aren’t producing the right thing.