Busy isn’t a badge of honor.

I don’t know about you, but I used to cringe every time I told someone, “I’ve been so busy lately”. It never really seemed sufficient. It’s an excuse, and not a very good one. We’ve all heard it said, “You make time for the things that are really important to you.” What would frustrate me is that I was so busy and my schedule was so full of “all the things” that weren’t really that important to me, yet I was prioritizing them in my schedule.

There is nothing honorable about filling your schedule with things to do and places to be if they don’t really serve a larger purpose or aren’t feeding into the things you value most. I call it hamster mode. You know how a hamster gets on the wheel and they just run and run? They exert all of this energy and tire themselves out, yet they get no where and accomplish nothing. Stay away from hamster mode! You see it a lot in organizations. They spin their wheels doing the same things over and over again, their employees are busy but they are accomplishing nothing. You’ll hear leadership list all of all of the things they are doing but they can’t understand why they aren’t seeing results. They may be doing a lot, but nothing is getting done! They aren’t doing the right things. It is exhausting. If you’re stuck spinning your wheels, doing all of the things and getting nowhere….

GET OFF THE WHEEL!

There’s nothing glamorous about being busy. Culture speaks loudly. It tells us what we should be doing and what should be important to us. It’s almost like if we aren’t accomplishing “x, y, z” we aren’t doing enough. Well, what if “x, y, z” isn’t what I value, and isn’t what God has called me to do in this season? You’re left with a full schedule and nothing to show for it. You burn out.

Next time someone asks us to do or join something let’s get real. What if instead of saying yes or even “I’m busy”, we told the truth? “It’s not something I can prioritize right now.” There’s a chance a few people may get offended. There’s a chance you could get offended if someone told that to you! Here’s the thing, don’t! You can’t possibly do all of the things that are important to you AND the things that are important to everyone else.  Therefore, don’t get upset if what you are asking from someone else isn’t a priority to them. It’s ok!  You must define your priorities. There is always another event. There’s always a need. There is always something more that can be done. You can’t say yes to everything.

Know what God has asked of you and know what your priorities are. If it doesn’t line up, say no.

I understand that caring for people doesn’t always come when it’s convenient for us. I’m not suggesting that you become so selfish with your time that you don’t care for people. How about we build some margin into our lives? Let’s not fill our weeks so full that it’s impossible for us to do the unexpected. While it is a balance, I feel most people, myself included, will tip towards the busy side so often that we live there.

I propose a challenge:

Take some time to write out your priorities. There shouldn’t even be a full page of them. I’m talking about your top 3-5 priorities. Really define them. What is important to you and what does it look like practically when you prioritize those things? That way when culture starts speaking and you start scrolling through all of the things that Karen is doing and apparently “everyone” is doing, you don’t feel the need to do them too. If it doesn’t line up with your priorities and would in fact take away from them, then you don’t need it. One priority that get’s over looked when your “busy” is rest. Schedule your rest. Here’s the kicker: When you schedule rest, don’t feel bad about it! It’s honestly not an option. For Christians, it’s even a command. You’re no good to God or anyone else if you don’t rest.

You have 168 hours a week. Look back over your week and tally up how you’ve spent those hours. This only works if you’re honest, and it can be convicting. (Especially if you’ve got 4 or 5 hours a week consuming social media.) Next, look forward and make the decision now on how you’re going to spend your next 168. Fill out your top priorities first and then add time until you’re up to 168. I’ve created a worksheet to help you look at the way you’re spending your time and to help you organize your 168. I usually just use a spreadsheet so that it calculates the numbers for me, but I thought it would be nice to create something a little prettier to look at for all of my visual people out there!

Click here to download the My Priorities and 168 Hours worksheets!

My dearest dear, busy is not a badge of honor. Let’s slow down this year. Get off the hamster wheel and start going somewhere with purpose!