I have come to hate the word busy.
When I was an undergrad at the University of Iowa, I also found myself thinking (and probably tweeting) about how "busy" I was too. I held two internships, was an active member of my sorority, the President of PRSSA, the public relations director of Sigma Alpha Pi and not to be forgotten a student/friend/girlfriend/daughter/sister.
Weeks were crazy and I was going going going all day long. I definitely had my moments when I complained about my full schedule and how exhausted I felt come Friday. Reading all these tweets venting about how busy the person is takes me back to my days at Iowa...
but
Evaluating where I am now makes me appreciate all those jam packed days and weeks because if I didn't work hard then, I would never have a job now (especially in this economy). I can't help but embrace my hard work and long nights now because it made me who I am and has helped me learn the skills necessary to succeed in the workplace.
I'm not trying to toot my own horn, I'm a recent grad just starting out in marketing/public relations field, but I know that my experiences/internships/PRSSA and my busy schedule helped me learn important life skills (think time management, perseverance) made me grow up (think maturity, teamwork) and embrace the importance/necessity of hard work.
Big picture. Everyone is busy. Not many care about your busy schedule because they probably have just as busy as/busier life than you. Save yourself the time and stop complaining about it.
Students, don't expect your schedule to be less "busy" once you graduate. This may be a bit snarky, but life is busy and shouldn't slow down post-graduation.
I urge students and professionals to embrace their busy lifestyles. As I mentioned above, I have complained about being busy (I'm not a saint) but this is something I'm working on too.
Wouldn't you rather have a full schedule than an empty one?
After all, if you're not busy going somewhere, you're going nowhere fast.
I came across this article from Penelope Trunk (author of the blog, The Brazen Careerist), "Being busy is not being honest" and I recommend checking it out. It helped change my perspective on being "busy."
What do you think? Would you rather have a full schedule or nothing going on?
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