We wear busy-ness like a badge of honor. To be busy means that we are important, we’re not lazy, and that the world can’t go on without us. How wrong we are!
Kevin DeYoung wrote a book that was really convicting to me. If you find yourself too busy too often, you might find it helpful, too. It’s called Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem. In it, he lists many of the poor reasons for our addiction to business:
- Pats on the back (we like the attention we get)
- Performance evaluation (we want people to know we are go-getter’s)
- Possessions (we busy ourselves to get them, keep them, and not ever use them)
- Proving ourselves (to show how much we matter)
- Pity (so people will feel sorry for us)
- Poor planning (because we just didn’t think about it)
- Power (so we can be in charge)
- Perfectionism (because good enough isn’t good enough)
- Position (to maintain our image)
- Prestige (to look good)
After considering these motivators behind our scheduled insanity, he asked one more question: Am I trying to do good or to make myself look good?
We praise the busy bee, but swat the buzzing gnat. Take a look at your week. Were you doing the things you really needed to, or were you just busy?