The "finding purpose" thread was on my mind when I had an "Aha!" moment from this Scott Berkun essay: "The cult of busy"
Or maybe these days I'm much more aware of the syndrome.
The biggest plans on today's schedule are surfing and a nap, not necessarily in that order...
After nearly eight years of ER you'd think that I'd be better at avoiding busyness, but the old habits still creep back on to the schedule.When I was younger I thought busy people were more important than everyone else. Otherwise why would they be so busy? I had busy bosses, busy parents, and always I just thought they must have really important things to do. It seemed an easy way to see who mattered and who didn’t. The busy must matter more, and the lazy mattered less.
This is the cult of busy. That simply by always seeming to have something to do, we all assume you must be important or successful.
It explains the behavior of many people at work. By appearing busy, people bother them less, and simultaneously believe they’re doing well at their job. It’s quite a trick.
I now believe the opposite to be true.
...
This means people who are always busy are time poor. They have a time shortage. They have time debt. They are either trying to do too much, or they aren’t doing what they’re doing very well. They are failing to either a) be effective with their time b) don’t know what they’re trying to effect, so they scramble away at trying to optimize for everything, which leads to optimizing nothing.
Or maybe these days I'm much more aware of the syndrome.
The biggest plans on today's schedule are surfing and a nap, not necessarily in that order...