Henry David Thoreau said, "It is not enough to be busy, so too are the ants. The question is, ‘What are we busy about?’" We live in busy times. Our technology makes everything much easier, but it also tends to make things more hectic, too. Sometimes it seems that everybody is busy, busy, busy, that the world is all about hustle-bustle. As a matter of fact, in segments of our society, people have taken to the belief that being busy is itself a sign of success. The busier one is, the more important he or she must be!
Is this bad? Certainly idleness isn’t desirable, either. I recently posted an article on this blog about initiative, which would seem to suggest getting busy doing something or other! Nobody likes a couch potato, and they escpecially don’t like the tater tots that couch potatos raise!
The best way to look at this is perhaps to view "busyness" and "idleness" as extremes. In the middle is effectiveness. The most effective people in life are certainly not idle, but they really aren’t busy, either.
Busyness really comes from a lack of ability to prioritize. Each of us has only twenty-four hours in a day. And life quickly becomes a struggle for what is and is not allowed to consume that time. When we properly prioritize our time, (and this goes beyond the mere concept of time management), we can work on the most important things first and allow the others to wait their turn. One of the best pieces of advice I have ever heard in this regard is, "Only do what only you can do." Only I can be a father to my children; only I can be a husband to my wife; only I can do what God has purposely built me to do, and I should be extremely careful to allow anything else into my schedule. This can be taken to extremes, of course, and I don’t mean it in that sense. We should always allow time for the unexpected but important matters: a friend in an emergency, a spontaneous hug, etc. But understanding our purpose very clearly, and being realistic about what our main strengths and duties are in life, will free us to "keep the main things the main things." Remember, the enemy of GREAT is GOOD. There will always be a myriad of GOOD things we could spend our time doing, but they will always be done at the expense of the one or two GREAT things we could be doing! Everything is a trade off.
Conversely, idleness is a form of wastefulness. It is when we take the precious gift of time and return it unused. Usually, it comes from a lack of purpose or understanding of what God would have us to do. Sometimes it can be caused by doubts, fears, or hurts, as well. But idleness is a theif that steals our life from us one minute at a time. And this thief is very subtle. Beware.
So why is effectiveness the balance between busyness on one side and idleness on the other? Because I am the one writing this article and I say so! (just kidding. I really just wanted to see if anybody actually read this far!) Because idleness and busyness are actually different forms of the same thing: waste. Busyness wastes our time just as severely as idleness does. People with active personalities are more prone to waste their life with busyness, while those with more easy going personalities are more prone to do so with idleness. Either way, effectiveness was held at bay.
Coach Lou Holtz once said, "Decisions are easy to make if you know what your purpose is," and I believe he is right. If we are not clear on what our purpose is, we will not make decisions that serve that purpose! Instead, we will make decisions that serve other ends, such as pleasure, comfort, happiness, personal peace and affluence. Notice that these things are all temporal and temporary. But if we understand our purpose, we will make decisions that are in line with that purpose and will be more effective in our lives. And usually, these things are of a higher and more lasting calibre.
So how do we fight off the evils of busyness on one side and idleness on the other? We get clear about our purpose in life, prioritize accordingly on a regular basis, and do only what we can do. Of course, life isn’t that simple, but these steps will get us a long way down the road to effectiveness. As Orrin Woodward and I related the story of Mel Fisher in the Launching a Leadership Revolution book, "Today’s the Day." In this case, I mean it a little different than Fisher did. While he would use it when showing up on the dock each day before setting out to discover lost treasure, I mean it to aid in the understanding that today is really all we have. Yesterday is a memory and tomorrow is up to God to provide. Today is all we’ve got. If we’re to live for God’s purpose and make something effective out of our lives, then truly, "Today’s the Day."
I will close how I opened: It is not enough to be busy, the question is, what are we busy about?
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