Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
Let’s Get Busy Doing Less

Let’s Get Busy Doing Less

Last updated on: May 13, 2021 at 5:50 am by Tom Rapsas

Let’s Get Busy Doing Less 2021-05-13T05:50:19-06:00 Tom Rapsas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

S Migaj via Unsplash

Q: “How are things going?”

A: “Busy. I’m very busy.”

Over the past several years, this has been a common exchange among me and friends and acquaintances in the business world. Everyone is just…so…busy. At first glance that might seem like a good thing. Busy means you’re being productive. Busy means you’re not lollygagging. Busy means you’re valued by your employer because they’re giving you lots to do.

Want to know the real issue with busy? Busy doesn’t equal happy.

Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy — to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work. ~Kierkegaard

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard drew a direct connection between busyness and unhappiness. He wrote that those who were overly busy were living life “outside of their true selves” and were never really in the moment. In his words, “the unhappy man is always absent from himself, never present to himself.” There in body, but with a mind and soul that is someplace else.

Writing in Everything Belongs, the Franciscan spiritual philosopher Richard Rohr continues this theme, preaching that when we are “busy,” it becomes virtually impossible to “be in the now.” Rohr writes that “the now” is the time when our whole being is present to life. We’re not distracted by our phones, our TVs, or the other diversions of life. Rohr informs us the now is also the place where we can best find, and connect with, God.

The fact is, “busy” is often a decision. We decide how we fill our days and in the immortal words of author Annie Dillar,“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.” A distracted day leads to a distracted life.

Jonathan Fields, writing in Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance (courtesy of Maria Popova), expands on the idea that when it comes to how busy we are, we are the ones calling the shots. In his words:

You decide what you want to do and the things that are important to you. And you don’t find the time to do things — you make the time to do things. And if you aren’t doing them because you’re “too busy,” it’s likely not as much of a priority as what you’re actually doing.

Maybe it’s time we reorganized our priorities.

I know that some of you are now thinking, “My job takes up all my time. I’ve got bills to pay. I’ve got no choice.” Gotcha. So what I’m suggesting is you find a way to deprioritize work in the grand scheme of things, by keeping your working hours to a minimum and devoting more time to spiritual pursuits or the fine art of doing nothing.

In this spirit, in his Behavior Gap newsletter, the writer Carl Richards calls for “The Age of Work Hard, Rest Hard.” In Richard’s case, he’s not saying that we should stop working—just that we need to spend a lot more time resting. Richards sees a world in which we strive to be as successful at rest as we try to be successful at work. In this world:

We’re becoming pros at turning off social media, getting great sleep, working less, and living more. We’re making being rested cool. So that when people ask how you’re doing, you can say, “Sit down. Let’s talk about it for a minute, because I have time for you, my friend.” At a minimum (when someone asks “How are you?”), you should be able to answer, “Rested, and how are you?”

Returning to the author Jonathan Fields, he again reminds us the key to being less busy, and more happy, is you. If you don’t do it, no one else will do it for you. You must take the initiative. In his words:

You have to make your own happiness, wherever you are. Your job isn’t going to make you happy. Your spouse isn’t going to make you happy. The weather isn’t going to make you happy. You have to be able to create your own happiness, period.

Fields continues that in his own case, what helps him lead a more purposeful life is “to feel that what I’m doing is coming from my heart and not my head so much. And it’s still a struggle.” But the effort is worth it. As the old adage goes, no one ever lied on their deathbed wishing they had spent more time at work.

As for me, the enforced stay-at-home rules during the coronavirus pandemic has slowed my pace. I’m spending more time being and less time doing. With my long daily commute gone, with the water cooler chatter reduced to a minimum, I’m finding less time to be busy. More time to actively “do nothing.” It’s a routine that, now entrenched, will be very hard to break.

If you enjoyed this story, you might also like 5 Ways to Add More Stillness to Your Life.

Previous Post

May 5, 2021

The Miracle of Fatima: A Visit by Mary—or Something Stranger?

Next Post

May 19, 2021 Does God Exist? A Parable About Faith

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 50+ Spirituality 60 Second Inspiration Activism Adversity Afterlife agape aging Aliens Angels Angels and aliens anger animism Astrology Atheists Attention Attitude Authenticity Awareness Awe Ayahuasca Balance Beginnings Being Present Belief Bhagavad Gita Bible birth of Jesus Blessings Bliss Bono Breathing Buddha Buddhism Calling cats Centered Centering Prayer Chakras Change Character Character and Aging Christ consciousness Christianity Christmas Church Civility commencement speeches commitments compassion Connecting with God Consciousness Contemplation Contemplative Prayer Contentment Conversations with God Coping Coping mechanisms Corinthians Coronavirus Covid creativity Daily practice Dalai Lama David Brooks David Frenette Death Deathbed visions Decisions determinism Discernment disconnecting Donald Shimoda Dreaming of the Dead dreams Drinking Easter Eastern religion Eckhart Tolle ego Elders Emerson Engagement Enlightenment everyday magic Evil Spirits Expectations experience Faith fate Fatima Fear Feel Finding God Fitness Fulfillment Gandhi Gary Zukav Generosity Giving Gnostic gospels Gnostics God God's will Golden Rule Good & Evil Gospel of Thomas Gospels Grace Gratitude Grief Growing Older Guardian Angels gumption Gurus Halloween Happiness health health and happiness Heaven Helping others High Strangeness Hinduism Holiday Season honesty Honor Hope Humility impostor syndrome inner music Inner Work Insights insomnia Inspiration Inspirational intuition Investing Jeff Bridges Jesus Jesus Christ John Templeton joy joy of life Justin Bieber Kaballah Kabbalah Karma Kindness koans Law of Attraction Life Life after Death Life and death Life Balance Life Hacks Life Lessons Life Path Life Philosophy Life Plan life purpose Life Rules Life Tips Life's Big Questions Lindsay Lohan Listening Living Intentionally Loneliness Love Magic Mark Twain Marriage Meaning of Life Meditation mentor Mentors Mid-Life Crisis Mindful Mindfulness Money Monks Multiverse Mysterious World mystical experience Mysticism Mystics Mythology Napoleon Hill Near Death Experience (NDE) New Thought New Year New Year's resolutions Noise Oprah out-of-body experience Parables Peace of mind philosophy Plant Intelligence Pope Francis Positive Thinking Prayer prayers for the spiritual Preachers Premonitions presence Prophecies Prophecy Prophets Psalms Purpose Purpose of Life quietude Quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Trine Reconnect Recovery reincarnation Relaxation Religion resolutions Resurrection Ritual Rituals Rules to Live By sadness Sam Harris Sandy Second Act Seeking self Self Mastery self-help self-improvement Seneca sermon sex shamans Sickness Silence Silence of God sleep small voice Smiling Social Activism solitude Soul Soul and Spirit Soul Awakening Spiritual Awakening spiritual beliefs spiritual guidance spiritual journey spiritual living spiritual path Spiritual philosophy Spiritual Practice Spirituality Spirituality and work Spooky Spirituality Stillness stoicism stoics Storytelling Stress Relief Success Suffering Suicide Surrender tao Thanks Thanksgiving the afterlife the bardo the Bible the Blues The Election the Kingdom the secret the self The Soul Thomas Keating Thomas Merton Thomas Moore Time Tony Robbins tradition UFOs Uncategorized Universe Values visualization Voice of God Wake Up Call Wake Up Call book Walls Walt Whitman Well-being Winter Blues Wisdom words to live by Work work/life balance worry Yogananda Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012 April 2012 March 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 November 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: The mystery hidden for ages is Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE

Books by This Author Books by Wake Up Call

See All Titles »