The Myth of Busy

We are supposed to be busy. We are supposed to be working. There is an amount of work we are supposed to put in each day to be considered a contributing citizen in society. Which makes being unemployed just that much harder.

I find that I battle with what I am supposed to be doing. I am supposed to be spending eight to ten hours a day job hunting. I know this because every second 'expert' on job hunting tells me that it should be a full time job and I have to devote the same amount of time to it that I would were I being paid for it. I am also supposed to be volunteering my newly freed up time. And I am supposed to be pursuing education or interests or household to do lists.

In short, I am not supposed to have free time. Any. At all. If I do then I am obviously a slacker. A ne'er do well, a dolist.

But the reality is that busy is subjective. Were I to be totally honest, I would have to admit that even when I was employed I rarely put in a solid eight hours on job related stuff. There were times, sure, when things were busy and it was all hands on deck, no time for lunch, no time to breathe. But the majority of the time? How much time was spent chatting with people who stopped by my desk? How much time was spent getting coffee or water or a soda from the break room? How much time was spent just walking between meetings or standing at the copier or even in meetings that were unnecessary?

Because there is busy and then there is productive. Busy is doing something, being productive is putting in time with a set output.

The truth is that I am often more productive now than when I was employed. My days have a lot of stuff in them. I walk the dogs at least twice a day. I do the dishes, I look for jobs, I do work for other people, I write this blog, I write other things, I research things, I do laundry and housework and make dinner and chauffeur people. Even reading books is productive time because I am a writer. Things get done. Work is accomplished.

Sure, there are times when I sit on the couch with my lunch and watch an hour or so of television. But I am not eating bonbons and watching five different soaps. that little bit of television time, those moments spent reading my twitter account, isn't that the equivalent of chatting to people who drop by the desk, or getting coffee, or reading that non-work email?

I may not be employed, but I am not only busy, I am productive.