Let’s Ban Busy

How often do you tell yourself and others that you’re busy? I bet it’s more than you think! When someone flippantly asks “how are you?” many of us, me included, reply with something variation of “I’m good thanks, just busy”. The other person nods in agreement at your mutual busyness and you both walk away in your busy bubbles.

Of course, we all have a lot on. Our work never stops unless we create the boundaries to contain it. Our inbox is always available. Our phone is always on. Our brains always wired. Busyness is just how things are now, the problem is when we hide behind it, because it’s always going to be there and you are always going to be hiding.

More often than not, your busyness is your choice. 

When we stop reading a book, when we don’t go to the gym, when we don’t take time out in our day to get fresh air because ‘we’re too busy’ the main person we limit is ourselves. Short-term perceived gains in ‘getting sh*t done’, mask the long-term downsides of continually halting our growth in small ways every day.

I am by no means immune to this and more recently I feel like my utterances of ‘I’m busy’ have magnified, a clear sign to make a change.

So, I’m going to ban “busy”. It’s going in the swear box.

Next time someone asks me “How are things?”, I will reply with a fact, some information, something interesting about what I’m doing or who I’ve been meeting. I will not say “I’m busy”. It’s a small step to take back control, but in these small actions can come the biggest rewards.

If you think you also suffer from a fixation with busyness, I suggest the following;

1. Over a week, track how many times you tell yourself or others that you’re busy (you can even get your colleagues to track it for you – you might say it more than you think!)
2. Find out your “busy” triggers. Is it when your manager asks you to do something else? Is it when a colleague asks how things are? It it when your partner asks how your day was? Replace your auto “busy” response with a new statement, for example “good thanks, had an interesting meeting with xxxx earlier today”.
3. Think about creating ‘busy blockers’ in your day. Even 15 minutes to read the news or scan through Feedly or Medium articles will be more beneficial than just ploughing on.

Good luck (and wish me luck too!).

Helen