Today we have a guest post from Thin, Rich, Happy. If you struggle with being “too busy” then Charlotte’s sass will surely knock you back into reality. Enjoy! 🙂 

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Being ‘Busy’ is quite the modern-day malaise. For many of us it has become not only our default setting but also somewhat self-congratulating.

‘How Am I? Well – you know – Busy.’

‘Crazy Busy’.

‘Non-Stop’.

‘There are Not-Enough-Hours in the Day’.

But why in fact are we so freaking busy all the time? Let’s take a very quick look at 5 reasons we might not finding enough time in our days.

1. 1. Ego – Look how important and busy I am. Tim Kreider summed this up best in his NYT essay, ‘The Busy Trap’ noting that when we tell everyone how busy we are ‘It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint’. If we are so strapped for time, with so many people needing us then we must be important. This state of busyness is usually driven by insecurity, stemming from the belief we are missing something – if we are always busy then maybe we are enough?
   2. Fear – What happens if I stop  being busy? For some of us this incessant busyness is a sign we are a bit scared of…..ourselves. A study published in the Science journal described an experiment where participants were left in a room alone for fifteen minutes. Over half of them did not enjoy the experience and in further studies chose to self-administer an electric shock rather than sit in silence by themselves. Yup – they would rather hurt themselves than just be with themselves. Scary Stuff.
   3. Perception – Are you really  too busy? Often our lack of time is manifested from self-created busyness. Filling every hour of the day with things to do, much of it which serves little purpose. Checking our emails incessantly, liking people’s sunsets or discovering ‘Which Disney Character Are You?’. Life is short and Facebook quizzes are dumb. If you have time to find out ‘Which Facebook Friend would Take a Bullet for You?’, you are not that busy. Fact.
   4. Lack of Priorities – Too busy to do the stuff you really  want to? Tim Ferris nails this one when he says, ‘Lack of time is lack of priorities. If I’m ‘busy’, it is because I’ve made choices that put me in that position.’ No time to exercise? Really? Too busy for some me-time? Pah. Who is steering the ship exactly? – You. The ‘To Do’ list can be helpful but only if for getting our priorities in order. We can all be ‘busy’ doing lots of meaningless things but being busy and getting things done are not the same thing.

1. Wanting Too Much – Busy trying to get/have/do everything? Respect to all you Type A’s out there but if you equate ‘too busy’ with being totally stressed out maybe you might prefer life off the hamster wheel? Some of us are so busy making more money when what we really want is more time. To be with the people who matter to us or to spend time doing the things that are important to us. Do we actually need more money? To be that successful? To be the absolute best at whatever it is we are doing? Would wanting a little bit less actually allow us to take it a little easier and stop with the busy?

Derek Sivers, a man who says a lot of smart things, sums it up well when he says, ‘Every time people contact me, they say, ‘Look, I know you must be incredibly busy…’ and I always think, ‘No, I’m not.’ Because I’m in control of my time. I’m on top of it. ‘Busy,’ to me, seems to imply ‘out of control’.

Too Busy? Maybe it’s not as simple as that.

Turns out there are  enough hours in the day but it’s up to you to decide how to spend them.

This Guest Blog is brought to you by www.thinrichhappy.com (Because Life is Too Short to be Crap.)