Busy is a brand…
We wear busy like a badge of honour. The first thing we say to each other is “how are you?” and the most common response is “busy”.
We deal in a currency of numbers, people will tell you how many emails they have in their in-box and how many meetings they have attended.
The “busy” becomes a showcase, we boast about not having time. Our reputation and existence is based on demonstrating “busy”. We need to rush and walk quickly to emulate “busy”.
Even our weekends are about justifying ourselves to ourself. We enter marathons and discuss what is right for our children in terms of after school activities. Studies now show that children need to learn how to be bored.
We cloud effort and results, as often if things take longer we have looked busy for longer.
A locksmith explained that when he first started his trade it used to take him a long time to change a lock. He charged $120 and $25 for the key and was often given a tip. He is now experienced and changes a lock in 2 minutes and still charges a $120, and yet he never receives tips. Ironically people were paying for incompetence, and yet they believed they were paying for effort.
To understand more about “busy” listen to the Radio 4 series by Oliver Burkeman http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w1dpx/episodes/player
Please do look at our website and get in touch www.nuggetsoflearning.co.uk
