“Busy-ness” is glorified in our society. We wear our stress like a badge of honor, as if the busier we are, the more impressive we must be, and the more accomplished we must seem.When we glorify stress and being busy, we normalize a culture where running ourselves ragged is not just celebrated but the norm. To not be busy makes you an outlier — someone that is not measuring up to the "standards.”

Busy-ness is glorified

Being so hyper-fixed on our own stress and schedule is, in a way, selfish. It’s a way to be caught up in our own little world. Instead, we should be encouraging ourselves and others to find a better balance in our lives and in our experiences.

Busy-ness is selfish

We convince ourselves that everything we do now, will pay off when we are successful and achieve that next milestone. But, as soon as we reach that goal, we rarely bask in that success because we must be in pursuit of the next one.Analyze the reasons as to why you are doing the things you do, and why you are reaching for the goals you are trying to achieve.

Analyze

How many times a day do you ask someone how they are, and they respond with "good, but stressed," "I'm so tired" or "I'm fine, but I've just been so busy"? A bit too often, I'm guessing. "Busy-ness" is glorified in our society, especially at Stanford, which is a microcosm of exceedingly high achievers.

The glorification of being busy - The Stanford Daily

Normally, people who are busy and stressed out on constant work, eradicate their work-life balance by bringing work home or worrying about unfinished work too much, leading to stress.
Chronically busy people feel pressed for time and are stressed out, narrowing their attention and cognitive bandwidth.

Chronically Busy

When we are having a narrow cognitive bandwidth, it can help us hyper-focus but is also harmful.
Tunnelling can lead us to focus on the urgent but not so important tasks immediately in front of us, which at the end of the day isn't very productive.

Tunnelling

Email is the perfect addictive slot machine of our attention.Our brain craves something new and likes being interrupted with some notification rather than focusing on one task continuously.Email is pseudo work masquerading as real work and is not productive if handled all the time.

Email as a Slot Machine

People love being busy and cannot sit idle. A study found people preferred giving themselves electric shocks rather than sitting idly all day.Smoking, for example, is habit-forming due to the same reason, having something to do, instead of being idle.

Sitting Idle

People who are checking their emails on a pre-set schedule are less stressed out than people in front of the inbox the whole day, replying to emails as they come, eventually increasing their incoming mails and avoiding real productive work.

Checking Email on Intervals

A scarcity mindset, the feeling that we have less time, is the same as having less money.We don't have space, the peace or the mental clarity to do what's right or important, so we end up doing what's urgent and stay trapped in the tunnel.

Time Scarcity

If we plan our limited time, taking care of focusing on productive work, rather than doing unproductive 'busy' work all the time, we end up being more accurate, and careful, leading to growth and real benefits of work.

Less Time, More Focus

Let's see if this sounds familiar: You churn through the day at work under deadline pressure, racing to meetings, dashing off emails, feeling busy, purposeful and a little breathless. Yet as the end of the traditional workday draws near, you realise with a sinking feeling that you haven't even begun the big project you meant to tackle that day.

How busyness leads to bad decisions

Being chronically busy can become a badge of honor. It makes you feel important.It can also hurt your health. The long hours, stress and lack of relaxation time can result in insomnia, headaches and fatigue.

Chronic busyness

<ul><li>How would you describe your days? Would you call them hectic, chaotic, consumed in activities?</li><li>How does being busy make you feel? Do you enjoy the excitement of going from one activity to another throughout the day?</li><li>Do you take fewer vacation days than you’re given or even skip vacation time altogether (like Tom)?</li><li>What activities do you normally do when you’re not at work? Do you rarely take time to sit, relax and read a book or magazine for fun?</li><li>Are your friends and family weary of hearing how busy you are? Have you ever seen someone roll their eyes when you talk about how busy you are?</li></ul>

Addicted to chronic busyness

Being busy can be good. It can mean you're being productive and getting things done. It can also be bad and signify that you're taking on too many activities and not giving yourself enough breathing room to relax and rest. My client ran into the Starbucks 30 minutes late for our career coaching session.

Here's Why You Should Stop Boasting About Always Being Busy

Psychology Today describes social comparison theory as, "... determining our own social and personal self-worth based on how we stack up against others we perceive as somehow faring better or worse."

 Social Comparison Theory

As a human being interacting with other human beings, we learn that how we show up in the world seems to matter. If we have learned through our own social experiences that certain patterns of behavior, such as being extraordinarily busy and constantly on-the-go lead to being successful, connected and accepted by others, then we may find it appealing to engage in those behaviors.

What Others Think of Us

Merriam-Webster defines the word productive as, "Yielding results, benefits or profits." Essentially, it means that we have something to show for our hard work.  Being busy has to do with an amount of time, where productivity has more to do with our use of time.

Busy vs. Productive

When we glorify busyness we are likely to overextend ourselves with varied obligations, appointments, commitments, and responsibilities. We end up taking on too much and can easily become flooded with negative emotion and even feeling isolated from others.

Impact on Emotional Health

Shuttling from one appointment to the next and having no time to spare in our schedule causes us to get creative in how we are feeding ourselves, moving our bodies, and resting. We end up making poor choices in all of these areas because we either don't have time to make careful choices or our emotional reservoir is dry due to exhaustion and our impulsive decision making takes over.

<div>Demanding, overextended schedules leave no time for meaningful connection. In our efforts to preserve relationships, we may send a quick text or attempt to make plans.  Over time, especially when attempts to get together are disrupted by last-minute changes, people can feel devalued and be less willing to compromise and forgive. Patterns of broken connection lead to people feeling distant and uninterested in maintaining connections. 
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Impact on Relationships

Creating change in the area of busyness can offer us improved physical health, greater peace and joy, and better, more connected, relationships. Having time for others and ourselves can offer us that sense of safety, value, and connection we were once looking for by being so busy.

Benefits of Making Change

When we are excessively busy and glorify the idea of busyness, it is common to gain our sense of self-worth through tasks, performance, accolades, and recognition from others.In exploring your core values you may find that spending time with family offers you a more meaningful sense of connection and value, and choose to set aside more time for that during the week or on the weekends.

Examine the Source of Your Self-Worth

<div>Our narrative is what we tend to tell ourselves about who we are, our worth, our abilities, and our purpose, among other things. </div><div>Allow yourself the opportunity to challenge your old narrative that says you are not enough if you're doing all things all the time and update it with a healthier view of self, your worth and your purpose.</div>

Challenge Your Narrative

<div>As you learn to say no to excessive projects, tasks, and appointments, you may fear how people respond to you, especially if they are not used to hearing no from you.
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Remember why you are taking better control over your time and keep the big picture in mind. Managing time and ridding yourself of excessive busyness is likely about connecting with friends and family, taking care of your physical health, and living with more peace and joy. </div>

Set Boundaries

How many times have you started your day looking at a long to-do list, checking numerous emails, forecasting multiple appointments and obligations for the day and wondering how you are going to get it all done? Our world is busy and continues to place demands on our time like never before.

If You're Always Over-Scheduled, Find Out Why You Need to Slow Down

We are obsessed with the idea that our potential for happiness is intricately tied to our freedom to pursue wealth. We think we must work harder and longer than the majority if we’re to amass a fortune so we can escape the drudgery of work as we know it.
We can fill our days with work that stretches us, fulfills us, and endows life with a whole new level of meaning.

Productivity and Pursuing Wealth

Efficiency does not necessarily guarantee effectiveness. Getting more done is not an accurate barometer for measuring your impact. Consider whether you’re being effective in achieving what you actually want.  
Think about what it is you’re really seeking and what might be the most direct path to get it. Then realize that sometimes doing less can actually pave the path to experiencing more—more satisfaction, more ease, and even more effectiveness.

Productivity and Effectiveness

Research suggests that happiness leads to success, not the other way around. It would benefit us to shift our focus from achieving future happiness to accessing that joy right now. When we wrap our days around things we have to do we leave very little time for the things we want to do. Happiness requires balance.

Productivity and Happiness

Ask yourself:
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<li>What is it you really want to accomplish?</li>
<li>What can you do today that supports your deepest passions?</li>
<li>If you knew your days were numbered, how much time would you want to devote to activities that have nothing to do with striving and achieving?</li></ul>

The Alternative to Busyness

"Life is what happens when you are making other plans." ~John Lennon There have been times in my life when I believed all my happiness revolved around how busy I was. If I was busy, I was using time wisely. If I was busy, I was proving to myself that I was valuable.

Productivity and Happiness: Why Are We So Busy?

“Those who are wise won’t be busy, and those who are too busy can’t be wise.”

“‘Busy’ has become the new ‘Fine’.” When you ask somebody how they were doing, they used to answer, “Fine.” But nowadays, everybody answers, “Busy.”

Busy as a default state

We are never forced into a lifestyle of busyness. 'Busy' is nothing but a decision we make. Simply realize that our schedules are determined by us.

Being busy is a choice

Busy should not be a badge of honor. 
If directed at the wrong pursuits, it is actually a limiting factor to our full potential.

Stop the glorification of busy

Set aside time weekly for rest and family. Intentionally schedule it on your calendar.One of the reasons many of us keep busy schedules is we fail to recognize the value of rest

Appreciate rest

Busyness is, at its core, about misplaced priorities.Determine again what are the most significant contributions you can offer this world. And schedule your time around those first.

Revisit your priorities

The things we own take up far more time and mental energy than we realize. 
They need to be cleaned, organized and maintained. And the more we own, the more time is required.

Own fewer possessions

Begin cultivating little moments of space in your otherwise busy day:<ul><li>Make time for lunch. </li><li>Find space in your morning to sit quietly before starting your day. </li><li>Invest in solitude, meditation, or yoga. </li><li>Find opportunities for breaks at work in between projects. </li></ul>

Cultivate space in your daily routine

Learning to say “no” to less important commitments opens your life to pursue the most important.

Find freedom in saying NO

“Everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is preoccupied with many things.”

Written by joshua becker · "Those who are wise won't be busy, and those who are too busy can't be wise." ― Lin Yutang It was in this video from Jeff Shinabarger that I first heard the phrase, "'Busy' has become the new 'Fine'."

A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy

A round-up of useful sources to help you unbusy your lives

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

🚫
The glorification of busy

The glorification of being busy - The Stanford Daily

How busyness leads to bad decisions

Here's Why You Should Stop Boasting About Always Being Busy

If You're Always Over-Scheduled, Find Out Why You Need to Slow Down

Productivity and Happiness: Why Are We So Busy?

A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

🚫The glorification of busy

The glorification of being busy - The Stanford Daily

How busyness leads to bad decisions

Here's Why You Should Stop Boasting About Always Being Busy

If You're Always Over-Scheduled, Find Out Why You Need to Slow Down

Productivity and Happiness: Why Are We So Busy?

A Helpful Guide to Becoming Unbusy

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

🚫
The glorification of busy