“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”
Ecclesiastes 9:10
One my greatest conversational weaknesses is the automatic response of “super busy” to any question regarding what’s new in my life or how I am doing. While it may be accurate insomuch that I do indeed have a lot going on at any given time, it really gives no new information to the conversation; we are all busy, and the status of ‘super busy’ does nothing of significance to differentiate me from the ‘busy’. I was recently confronted by a friend about my busyness and the general clutter of business expansion, home projects, high school coaching, and general social life. It can be a jumbled mess at times (most times), and it’s been a great opportunity for me to look critically at my schedule, responsibilities, and what ‘being busy’ really should entail, especially for the entrepreneur who values work but also has responsibilities to church, family, and friends.
Switching the focus from my specific situation to our American work/family culture as a whole, I immediately have to propose that perhaps we aren’t too busy but rather we are busy in the wrong sort of way. We are supposed to be busy; and whether your worldview is ‘YOLO’ or believing that you are created with specific and intentional purpose, our attitude should be one of seeking to make the most of our time. Making the most of our time however should not be equivocal to having each and every minute of the calendar filled and booked; yet I think that is sometimes how we often find ourselves living.
The scriptures tell us to that we are to perform our responsibilities with all our might – but what does this mean? If we give all of our conceivable might to any given responsibility, we by definition will not have the capacity for another; and unless we are destined to be a very singular faceted people, we must assume that we are to give each and every responsibility the might or effort that is required to perform it well and completely.
I believe that the often the problem with much of the busyness in my own life is its attachment to halfhearted or mismanaged tasks. When we look at high performers of the world such as Elon Musk or Jeffrey Bezos, we see men accomplishing large numbers of complex tasks and managing a seemingly endless list of responsibilities. While these performers are obvious outliers, it again suggests that we are not actually too busy, we are simply busy in the wrong sort of ways. Musk and Bezos are able to manage such a huge amount of responsibility because they are passionate about what they are doing, and they delegate and manage their lives well around them.
It is not enough to simply fill the hours of the day, we must be purposeful in the things that we choose to be busy with and how we manage our time, our employees, and our households. Sometimes this may legitimately mean cutting out tasks that we are unable to perform well; as Ron Swanson would say, “Never half-ass two things, full-ass one thing and do it well”. But before cutting out these tasks we should first evaluate if perhaps we can simply be doing them better. Are our employees being managed well? Are our households being managed well? This is applicable whether you have one employee or a hundred, living with roommates or married with children.
If our lives seem to be controlled by the vague busyness of passing time, my challenge is for us to look critically at what we are occupying our time with and the responsibilities that we have been given, and then to attack these things ferociously and with all our might. Before dejectedly throwing in the towel to our calendar and blindly cutting tasks and duties out of the schedule or simply forcing ourselves to say ‘no’; let us ask ourselves ‘can this task be done better? Can I delegate this task to someone who is more equipped to perform it?’
Doing tasks well and whole-heartedly, whether they are delegated or performed first handedly, brings life, fulfillment, and joy to our lives and the people around us. This is a sharp contrast to a life weighed down with mismanaged calendars and halfhearted tasks. Our life on earth is but a vapor and we are to be purposeful and diligent with our time. Do not shy away from a large workload, but rather go forth in a spirit of power and attack your duties and responsibilities with all your might, performing them well and efficiently. You will find newness of life in your business and family and inspire and uplift those around you.
“Do you see a man who excels in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before unknown men.”
-Proverbs 22:29