Everyone is busy. Our brains have a hard time doing nothing. So, there's a tendency to fill the ebbs of time with something. When we're at work, being busy is tied to being productive in the service to someone else. The rest of the time, busy takes on a different persona. There's the business of doing chores, taking care of personal business and generally getting things done. This is the stuff we've told ourselves is more important than something else. So, we make ourselves feel productive by doing it. And on the measurement of pure activity, we've accomplished something. But, at what expense? What's the cost of doing one thing over another?
It's easy to fall into the trap of merely doing something to feel productive...because it's safe. It's safe because it's predictable. But the truly important work, the work which can change our lives and those around us, is hard. It's hard because it might not work. It's hard because we might fail. But, the hard work really matters.
Too often we put the hard things off. We rationalize doing them later when conditions are more suitable or we have more time...perhaps tomorrow. Of course, we might be busy tomorrow. Or perhaps, tomorrow doesn't come?
Most of what we call busy work is easy. But, we need more of the hard. Maybe we should get busy doing the hard work instead. Spend five minutes doing the hard thing each day, before doing anything else. At least it's a start.