“Never mistake activity for achievement.”

John Wooden

Busy. That seems to be the perpetual state of the world. Everyone is so very very busy. But what is being accomplished in all this busyness?

Sometimes it feels like we wear being busy as a badge of honor, that the more we have going on, the more important or worthy we are. Maybe this is just me. I know that I’m certainly guilty of this. People will ask me how I am doing, or how my weekend was and I catch myself saying “it was great, just busy” or “I’m good, just really busy right now.”

The real question is this. Are we busy doing the right things? Are the efforts we are putting in the right ones, or are they just the ones that take up our time? Are we achieving results that matter through focused effort, not just showing up and being busy?

Busy is a choice. It isn’t a bad choice, especially if you are focused on achieving your goals and impacting others. But if busy is the idol, the perpetual state of being, do you have time to look up and make sure that you are still going in the right direction?

I commit to this. When someone asks me how I am doing, I am taking the response of “busy” out of my lexicon entirely. If I can’t give a real and substantive answer, I’d be better off simply saying nothing.