Hi friends. Welcome to the YouTopian Journey. Today’s issue discusses why you must stop being so busy.
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BEING BUSY IS NOT HONORABLE
"Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy."-Soren Kierkegaard
It’s everywhere. The busyness of a hectic life. People running from one meeting to the next, filling their calendars with endless activities. Waking up before dawn is preferable to being well rested. Filling the day with work is considered admirable rather than relaxation and deep thought. Ten Zoom meetings is better than three.
They believe a hectic schedule is honorable and that the busiest person is the successful person.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
In the relentless pursuit of tasks and deadlines, people may find themselves trapped in a perpetual cycle of doing, leaving little room for introspection and self-discovery. Their busyness becomes a barrier to the lives that they truly desire.
It leads them on a road with no clear destination.
Understand that being busy can stunt personal growth, meaningful relationships, and can prevent true and transformative work. Rather than being busy in the pursuit of something meaningful, the majority of people are busying themselves with the trivial.
Meetings and calls. Slack channels. Mastermind groups and social media debates.
Nothing of merit is achieved. Nothing noteworthy is built. Many are left feeling mentally fatigued and burned out.
As we end 2023, this behavior needs to stop.
It simply isn’t sustainable.
We must focus on what truly matters to us. We must spend our time like the precious resource that it truly is. We must stop our addiction to the overwhelming schedule, putting what is most important to the side.
Your health and wellbeing depend upon it.
"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What we are busy about?"-Henry David Thoreau
UNBUSY YOUR MIND. LIVE IN THE MOMENT.
“No pursuit can be successfully followed by a man who is preoccupied with many things, since the mind, when distracted, takes in nothing very deeply, but rejects everything that is, as it were, crammed into it. There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living.”-Seneca
When you are constantly busy, your own creativity and capacity for personal innovation becomes stifled. The appointments, deadlines, projects, and late nights take the place of deep thinking and reflection. Breakthroughs, personal breakthroughs, come from the free moments. These moments are when the mind is at ease.
Busyness deprives you of this advantage. More importantly, it removes the present moment. The present moment is the only time that we can truly act. It is the only time we can live.
“Live in the present. The past is gone; the future is unknown -- but the present is real, and your opportunities are now. You must see these opportunities; they must be real for you. The catch is that they can't seem real if your mind is buried in past failures, if you keep reliving old mistakes, old guilts, old tragedies. Fight your way above the many inevitable Traumatizations of your ego, escape damnation by the past, and look to the opportunities of the present. I don't mean some vague moment in the present -- next week or next month, perhaps. I mean today, this minute.”-Maxwell Maltz
We are too busy to appreciate the present moment.
Too busy to take advantage of the present moment.
And unfortunately, too foolish to use the present moment.
All from our busyness. A busyness that results in a barren life and a barren mind.
I don’t know about you, but when I am asked about 2023, I won’t be praising meaningless meetings. I won’t be bringing up the busy work that resulted in nothing. I won’t be excited or nostalgic for the busy mornings that later turned to busy afternoons.
But I will be proud of the real work I accomplished. I will be happy with the memories. The trips. The books read. The new relationships that were formed. The steps that were taken to a new future.
As you head into 2024, I hope this new mindset will serve you well and unbusy your life and your mind.
“Being too busy has this result: that an individual very, very rarely is permitted to form a heart; on the other hand, the thinker, the poet, or the religious personality who actually has formed his heart, will never be popular, not because he is difficult, but because it demands quiet and prolonged working with oneself and intimate knowledge of oneself as well as a certain isolation.”-Soren Kierkegaard
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I know that there are people in your network who need to read this and change their mindset as we go into 2024. By sharing this, you can support them in their journey.
Shaun
Great insight 👏