“I remember that I wasn’t going to be busy anymore.” Now you may be thinking, “When was that going to be – when you retired?” No, it was based upon the promises I was hearing about all of the time that would be saved as I took advantage of labor saving devices. For example, microwaves would save time cooking; laundry dryers were already making it possible to avoid hanging clothes on an outdoor clothesline (this will reveal how old you are); computers relieved us of having to handwrite documents, and the list goes on and on.
However, for most of us, instead of slowing down our busy pace, it simply enabled us to take on more and in some cases become busier than we were to begin with. And yet, we have to ask ourselves – “What are we busy doing?” Are we filling our schedule with more tedious, but perhaps unimportant, places to run to and things to do? As my friend Mark Skalberg put it, “There is a huge difference between being purposefully busy – the sort of busy that provides fulfillment and seeks to accomplish the good work we’ve been called to than being rushed, distracted, and weary.”
As you begin what you hope will be a meaningful Monday, I encourage you to ask yourself, “Is my purpose just to be busy, or am I busy fulfilling a meaningful purpose?”