Mark LeBusque

The Bullshittery of Being Busy

When did you last speak or hear these two words

‘I’m Busy………’ 

Do you even think before you say them or have you become so robotic that they are programmed to appear as soon as you open your mouth? 

What about when you decide to infect others with them and anoint them as busy by starting a conversation with “I know you’re busy but……………”

When did busy become a thing, a throwaway line, a badge of honour, a suit of armour or even a protective mechanism? 

Some say it’s a habit – perhaps a habit forged by something more sinister than just a throwaway line. 

Where does choice come into the equation? Or the concept of importance v urgency rear its head? 

Where do terms like ‘doing more with less’ and the ongoing organisational activities such as restructures, redundancies and combining roles come into the busyness epidemic?

In her article called The disease of being busy, Sonja van den Bosch states that Technology is partly to blame and the lines between work and home have become blurred. We have too
much information and too much pressure. Television, emails, text messages, social media, never-ending notifications pinging on every device you own…….

Dr Michael Marmot, a British epidemiologist, found there are two types of busyness. The most damaging is busyness without control, which mostly affects the disadvantaged in our
communities, and busyness we control. The latter is the sickness we bring to ourselves. Self-created stress.

There are many ways we create this illusion of busyness and human I challenge you to ponder the following questions:

How does ‘busyness’ show up for you? 

How is it different depending upon the environment?

If being busy is your chosen suit of armour, what might it be protecting you from?

What are the risks or rewards if you ‘shed your armour’?  

What’s your alternative to busyness?  

Gotta go human because I’m ‘out of control’ really busy right now……….
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