W

e all know time is our most precious resource. What we have today, will be gone forever. The seconds tick by and disappear.

We also know that there are many ways we can spend our time. Work, family, dreams, relationships, play, travel, entertainment, and so on. The choices are quite literally endless.

This being the case, it can be easy to blame one’s inability to do it all on being too busy. We have so many other things to do, we can’t possibly take on X or spend time on Y.

Except what does busy truly mean? The textbook definition is simply having a lot to do, but it’s not so simple. In fact it’s a subset of things that every individual has determined to be worthy of their time. These are tasks that we have actively chosen to spend our time on.

Being busy is a priority problem.

If we follow this line of thinking, being busy isn’t just that we have too many things to do, but that we don’t have enough time to do the things that we truly want to do, or so we say.

The question then becomes, are we actually prioritizing the right things? Of the many things that keep us busy, how many are actually important to us? A majority of time may be spent on a job that we hate, but we have to pay the bills after all.

The rest gets filled in by mindless television or excessive drinking or incessantly stalking a local sports team or spending money on things we don’t need. Or all of the above.

Do we ever take a moment, in our busy lives and question why we are busy? What things are we giving priority too that maybe shouldn’t be so important?

Should we be working on a book or a new business or bettering our craft instead of watching the game? Should we be pursuing our dreams instead of living vicariously (and enviously) through social media?

This is all to say one simple thing: busy is a priority problem. There will always be a million things potentially on our plate, but what we choose to do is up to us. We get to pick.

So if you are too busy because of work, then your work may not be what you truly want to be doing. If it was, it probably wouldn’t feel like being busy. Actively work to find a new job or make your job into something you believe in.

If we choose something of lesser importance to you, what does that ultimate say about being busy? You should be trying to eliminate busy from your life.

The next time you start complaining about being too busy or not having time to do that exciting new project, take a minute and see if that’s really true.