breaking up with busy

hi — i’m mack & i’m a recovering busy person.

i wore busy as a badge of honor for the majority of my life.

in high school, i loaded my schedule with ap classes & extracurriculars. in college, i took as many classes & internships as i could. out of college living in sf, i commuted 3 hours every day to my full-time job while training for a marathon.

then it got even worse when i moved to nyc.

the mecca of busy.

my days were spent working out at 5AM, power walking everywhere, & scheduling social plans every night. while working more than full-time in a job where i averaged 30 hours per week in meetings (the most depressing google feature ever). getting tired just thinking about this!

i know i’m not alone in living like this.

we’re a chronically busy society. but we don’t have to be.

let’s opt out of busy.
let’s opt into better.

busy is the wrong answer

i’d be willing to bet the second most common answer to “how are you?” is

“busy.”

a comment i used to say a lot & not think twice about. but a response i’ve come to hate to say myself & to hear from others for 2 big reasons.

first, i hate how busy is a bit show-offy.

normally it’s followed by i’m just doing SO much, let me list all the things.

it’s like that coworker who got in & stayed late so the boss could see them “working,” even though everyone knew they weren’t doing their job even during working hours.

which leads to my second issue with this word.

busy is actually a sign of being unproductive, unfocused, &, unaligned.

once you realize this, you start to see it everywhere & it’s devastating. way too many people are walking around too busy to live.

a recent harvard business review article cited this jaw dropping stat:

the business of busyness

here’s the capital T truth: busy is easy.

it’s easier to give control of our time to others than it is to set boundaries, stay disciplined, prioritize ourselves, & say no.

we’re programmed from a young age at school to pride ourselves on the quantity of classes taken, homework completed, & awards won.

we then take this default setting into the workplace where we focus on hours worked & projects completed. often valuing quantity over quality of work.

we equate busyness with business.

blindly accepting busy as requirement & rule for the game of life.

but we don’t have to play by these rules.

busy is a choice.

an often unexamined choice that robs you of life’s true treasure: time

be better than busy

2 people could have the exact same schedule & time demands, but one will be busy & miserable, the other will be happy & thriving.

the difference is how the schedule was determined.

the busy one is given the schedule against their will.

the happy one picked this schedule with their priorities.

opting out of the busy life isn't about slacking off. it's about making intentional choices with your time. it’s about opting into better.

the beauty of better is that it looks different for everyone because your better can only be defined by you. but the requirement for better is the same for all of us — we must be focused.

because when you focus,
you not only do things better,
but you also do better things.

you align your actions with your true goals & desires

which makes time for what matters most.

stop saving, start making time

working for myself forces me to be ruthlessly disciplined with my time in order to make time to build my dream business.

to help me quit the busy life, i’m focusing on these 5 better b words:

• boring mornings: same routine every day of the week from 530AM to 12PM, starts with morning rituals & switches to focused work mode.

• big rocks: i frequently review my jar of life & remind myself to focus on moving the big rocks forward every day. actively avoiding the sandy life!

• batching work: i group similar types of work together, writing time, designing time, replying time, etc. so there’s less context switching.

• boundaries: i only spend time, energy, & money on things that align with or amplify what matters most to me right now.

• buffers: i constantly underestimate how much time things will take me so now i build buffer into my schedule for life's inevitable surprises.

i’ve realized breaking up with busy isn’t just about saving time.

it's about creating a life that feels purposeful & fulfilling.

we all deserve to live this best life.

but we must opt for better, over busy, to get to live our best lives.

happy valenTIME’s week!

p.s. to celebrate the upcoming hallmark holiday, i’m offering you dear readers 50% off your next order from my stationery store. consider this your sign to write that very overdue thank you letter or love note.

shop with the discount code MERRY50 (offer ends on sunday 2/19).

p.p.s want a custom design or one that’s out of stock? just email me your request & i will make your paper dreams into a reality <333