Staying Busy

Although technology has certainly made many areas of our lives more efficient and effective, saving us precious time on countless everyday tasks, we seem to be busier than ever before. Our lives in this day and age seem to have very little margin with the hectic schedules we follow. Yet, do we have a lot to show for it?

Everyone seems busy. Not everyone is productive. Peter Drucker once said, "There is nothing so useless as doing very efficiently that which should not be done at all." I think this is true for a lot of us. It’s an easy trap to fall into. We start to confuse activity for advancement and movement with progress. We run around in circles but never actually get anywhere because the activities we engage in aren’t the ones in which are time and energy should be invested. We neglect the important tasks by filling our day carefully completing that which need not be done at all.

We all find a way to fill the minutes in our day with something. It’s not how much you do, but rather what you do that really matters. As Denzel Washington’s mom used to tell him, “doing a lot more doesn’t mean you are getting a lot more done.”

Are your days constructive or just cluttered?