I think the world would be a better place if we stopped saying how busy we are.
Over the last two years I’ve realized how the word ‘busy’ has insinuated itself as a cultural norm (at least in the Washington, DC area).
Although busy is defined as “full of or characterized by activity,” I can identify two main ways the word is being misused.
“Busy” Misuse #1: “Feel envious of me” or “Feel sorry for me”
Most of us are continually striving to feel good about ourselves and often we fall back on tactics such as this one. We may state our busy-ness, listing the many important activities that crowd our calendars, hoping to see approval and admiration on the other person’s face. Or we list the challenges the make up our exhausting lives, waiting for expected sympathy.
“Busy” Misuse #2: “That’s why I can’t ____________” (fill in the blank)
I think this use is more dangerous then the previous one. We use this to excuse our actions, to ignore our power of choice and claim a role as a victim of life.
So what’s to be done?
First and foremost, we can see our lives as a collection of choices we have made and can still make.
As Jack Canfield suggests in the first chapter of his awesome book, The Success Principles – Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life.
Perhaps, instead of saying we’re “busy,” we can say we “have a lot of commitments to keep.”
Let’s exercise our responsibility for our lives, not retreat to positions of passive resignation.
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agreed!
thanks kirk – i appreciate your bringing this up and into the conversation. i am often mystified when people use “busy” as an excuse, especially when it follows immediately after a declaration that the person “wishes” things were different.
I really appreciate your last sentence: to exercise responsibility and not passive resignation.