Are You Busy or Distracted?

“Hey, how have you been?” 

This greeting is how a lot of conversations start. Between friends, family, or people you somewhat know. There is a safe bet that the person you ask this question will respond in one of three ways: 

1. “I am doing good. Thanks for asking.”
2. “I have been busy. How about you?”
3. “Let me tell you about my life story.” 

There is a 60/40 chance it is either going to be “good” because most people don’t want to tell you that they are about to lose their mind if their spouse puts the toilet paper roll on backward one more time. 

Or

“Busy,” because we can all relate to this overwhelming feeling that at all times, we have to be doing something. 

This begs the question, “Are we really busy, or is it just a feeling?”. Busy is defined as “having a great deal to do.” I think we all have a great deal to do or at least choose to do if we wanted to. 

Can you list out all you have to do? And if you could, would that list justify how busy you always feel? 

I know I often feel busy and never have enough time to complete all I want to get done in the time that I have. If I were to write down everything I need to get done, most likely, I could quickly get it done in the 16 hours I am awake. 

More often than not, I will choose to distract myself from the overwhelming feeling of busy by looking at my phone, binge-watching TV, or some other low-valued distraction. 

Distractions leave me feeling good in the moment, but soon after, I realize I have wasted all my time and put myself in a position of feeling overwhelmingly busy. 

When was the last time you did work, and your cell phone was not right next to you? Or your smartwatch wasn’t buzzing with some notification? I think most of us are overstimulated and over distracted, not too busy. 

I would love to leave you with some advice some quick tips, but doing so would be making me a massive hypocrite.  

Instead, here are a few things I am going to try and work on:

• Keeping my phone in the other room when doing work
• Only turning on the TV after my essential and fulfilling work is done 
• Spend a few moments each day in silence 

Your Fitness Sherpa,