Now, there is busyness that reflects a plan of activity, a pattern of priorities, and a sense of purposefulness. It is a good and satisfying busyness through which one grows and increases competence. But there is also a busyness (a destructive busyness, actually) that reflects a chaotic way of life – a way of doing in which one is simply responding to the next thing in the day. The next thing! It makes no difference whether it has significance, it’s just the next thing, and one does it because it’s there to do.” – Gordon MacDonald in Ordering Your Private World (link)

Wait… a good and satisfying busyness? Let’s run that back.

Now, there is busyness that reflects a plan of activity, a pattern of priorities, and a sense of purposefulness. It is a good and satisfying busyness through which one grows and increases competence. …

A full calendar

For those that know me well, have read this blog, or try to get time on my calendar, they know that I plan out my weeks in advance. Every Friday I spend an hour or so planning out my next couple of weeks. I’ve written about this general topic multiple times in the past:

• Lesson Learned #2 – Manage Your Time or Someone Else Will (Part 1)
• Lesson Learned #3 – Manage Your Time or Someone Else Will (Part 2)
• Lesson Learned #12 – Quarterly Planning – Part 1 of 2 – Mind Maps
• Level Up Your Productivity with the Eisenhower Method
• Rhythms for Family Life

I know that I can overdo it at times and I’m trying to learn each time it happens. For me, I really care about balancing my walk with Christ, my relationship with my wife, spending time with my children, pursuing friendships, and delivering well at what I feel called to.

For me, that all requires intentional planning and focus.

What’s the Bible say about planning?

I was talking with a colleague about the concept at the start of this post and one of the first questions he asked me was “What’s the Bible say about it?”.

As I’ve chewed on that question for the past couple of weeks – three verses kept circling in my mind:

• Proverbs 16:9 ESV – The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
  
• Luke 14:28-30 ESV – or which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
  
• Matthew 6:25-33 ESV – “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

What lingers with me from the above verses are (1) the foundation of Faith in God and (2) the tension of not being anxious while trusting him to establish my steps. I also appreciate it pushes on Planning being both good & an expected thing for us.

Two types of busy

Historically, I would say I would categorize “Busy” as only a bad, negative connotation, and an anxious oriented word.

Me: How are you?

Them: Busy… a lot is going on. Work, Sports, School… not enough time in the day.

The assumed implications of busy we often hear end up being direct correlations to burnout, anxiety, and depression.

However, the quote that began this post really got me thinking.

A negative busy that is often seen very publicly because of its potentially destructive nature and then a positive busy that tends to be in the shadows or, maybe, rarer in reality?

I appreciated the definition of the two types of busy:

1. A [good] busy = a reflection of a plan of activity, a pattern of priorities, and a sense of purposefulness.
2. A [bad] busy = a reflection of a chaotic way of life – a way of doing in which one is simply responding to the next thing in the day.

This has changed the way I respond to people in recent weeks. If someone asks me how I’m doing, I try to respond with “Good but Busy” or “Good but in the middle of a dense couple of weeks” and tell them a little bit more about why it’s good & dense at the same time.

Busy Fuel Tank

Let’s go further 🙂

As I’ve been diving into this concept more, I couldn’t help but think of it as a fuel gauge. On the far left the bad part of busy (Empty) and on the far right is the good part of busy (Full).

See the elaborately detailed AI generated visuals below…

Just like your car fuel tank (or battery bank) – you have to be intentional in refueling or it’s naturally going to end up on Empty.

I had a late 80’s F150 that would let you overfill the tank… this made me think on and realize that there is also a portion of the Busy Fuel Gauge where you can put too much into the tank and… it pours out onto the ground and creates another problem for you.

What’s the saying? “Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing?”. So let’s add “Too Far” into the mix too.

“Where they at doe?” aka Where am I at?

I apologize… I can’t help myself sometimes to think of random past memes and nest them like little gems in these posts. -> Link

In my next post I want to dive even further into what I’d say are the “Four General States” of busy and then how to navigate each one of them.

1. Bad – “Just living life, it sucks but I’ve convinced myself ’tis life’“
2. Too Far – “I’m the best checklist, project planner, detailed person ever! 🎶All I do is plan, plan, plan 🎶”
3. In Between – “Feeling good mostly but can sense I’m starting to stress some“
4. Good – “Driven, Purposeful, Full – I’ve spent some time organizing some things and have it together at the moment. 🎶 Jesus has taken the wheel 🎶”

For now, I’ll leave you with -> If you were to review your last few weeks… which “busy” would you say you are sitting in at the moment?

-Matt