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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I agree with you Tegan, and I am reminded of the words of singer songwriter, Harry Chapin, who said it all with this:
ReplyDelete"My grandfather was a painter. He died at age 88. He illustrated Robert Frost's first two books of poetry. He was looking at me one day and he said, `Harry, there's two kinds of tired. There's good tired and there's bad-tired. Ironically enough, bad-tired can be a day in which you won, but you won other people's battles, you lived other people's days, other people's agendas and dreams, and when it's all over, there's very litte you in there, and when you hit the hay at night, you toss and turn, you don't settle easy.
Good-tired, ironically enough, can be a day in which you lost, but you knew you fought your battles, you chased your dreams, you lived your days. And when you hit the hay at night, you settle easy, you sleep the sleep of the just, and you can say, "Take me away."
Harry, all my life I wanted to be a painter. So I painted. God, I would have loved to have been more successful. But I painted and painted. And I am good-tired, and they can take me away."
Thanks for your comment. Harry Chapin's words are right on and very inspiring! I'd rather be good-tired!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. I would rather be dizzy than bored any day of the week. I also think you produce better work when you are busy- it keeps you in the groove.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
I agree, Adrienne.
ReplyDeleteI would rather be doing something than nothing. Thanks for the comment!
Great post Tegan! It's all about priorities! Your time management skills are amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Danielle. I appreciate the kind words!
ReplyDeleteSince I finished my thesis and start to apply internship / work now I'm not too busy, which is why I'm scared. Does life post univeristy should feel like this? *shudder*
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