
I read lately that “busy is the new fine“, I bet you’ve seen it too – you ask someone how they are and they say “I’m busy”, or “keeping busy”. I do it too. I hate it, but it takes a long time to change your reaction. I’m trying.
However more than this, and worse, is this competition to be busiest. I’m busier than you. I must be more organized because I have more on my list. But – are you doing all these things well? I’ve started to notice that people who describe themselves as busy often use it as an excuse to do a half-hearted job at things. If you’re “so busy” that you do such a terrible job that someone has to redo it, why bother? These are the people that I stop bothering to delegate to, because it’s more trouble than it’s worth.
And then I see them and we have the competition as to who’s busiest. It infuriates me – I’m competitive, I want to win – but this is one of those competitions where if you win – you lose. The winner has more commitments, but it’s unlikely they are doing all of them that well. The loser may be picking a couple of things to be extraordinary at.
How do I get out of this conversation? By not playing this game, people seem to assume I’m not fully occupied and disrespect my time – I definitely don’t want that. My schedule is fairly flexible, so if it’s worth doing I’ll fit it in – but flexible doesn’t mean free.
7 replies on “It’s Not a Competition”
Heh, I've been noticing that a lot lately, too (the whole “I'm busy” response thing). And I definitely do it myself. But upon reflecting, I realized I do have a reason for it. I know this is my last semester that will be busy because of courses, and it's almost over… so I say I've been “busy but good” because I'm looking forward to the time in the not-so-far future that I won't be! 🙂
Yeah, it's definitely difficult to balance courses with thesis and everything else we try to do! I can't wait until it's all over, although the rest of March is not going to be pleasant!
http://bobulate.com/post/237997395/a-ban-on-busy
This struck a chord with me.
That's a great post – thanks for sharing 🙂
http://bobulate.com/post/237997395/a-ban-on-busy
This struck a chord with me.
That's a great post – thanks for sharing 🙂
[…] and enough free that I can have long chunks of time to focus) and I try and work to that. Also, I don’t play the “I’m busier than you†game – it’s stupid and pointless. I try to say yes to opportunities, but I’m learning how to say no to things that […]