Is being busy good or bad?

“I am so, so busy”, one might say —

“I just have so many things to do. It’s one thing after another. It never stops!”

Being busy can be stressful.

But someone else might say, “I like to keep busy”.

“Well, I retired from my job last year, but I keep busy! Don’t worry, I never get bored.”

Being busy can give life meaning.

The truth is that being busy is neither good nor bad.

In fact, being busy is nothing more than an idea:

You can’t touch “busy”. You can’t see it. You can’t smell it.

“I’m so busy” and “I keep myself busy” are just thoughts. They aren’t reality. They are stories we tell ourselves.

Powerful stories, to be sure! Repeat them often enough and they manifest as very real things: an elevated heart rate, a shallow breath, poor sleep.

Stories can become real.

But stories can also change.

Not overnight, maybe, unless something huge happens in our life that changes our perspective. But gradually, one day at a time, we can tell ourselves different stories.

In particular, we can drop the theoretical construct of “being busy” and instead realize we’re just here, writing an email. Or just here, attending a meeting. Or just here, mowing the lawn.

The other things you feel you are “busy” with—they don’t exist yet. They’re just ideas.

I feel strongly that everyone needs a personal productivity system.

For the precise reason that—as long as you set it up right!—having a system can help you do one thing at a time and not worry so much about whether you are “busy”.

Having a good personal productivity system helps you prioritize, so you know you’re working on the right thing.

And having a good system gives you the confidence that you’re not forgetting anything, so you’re not as distracted by worries about what you might be dropping the ball on.

Those two things combine to make it so, so much easier to focus on what’s in front of you.

That way, the story of “busy” drops away and you can simply engage with one thing at a time, enjoying the process.