Yes folks, after three or so decades, it's finally happened - I've switched over to the dark side, making the move from audience member to segment subject, sitting in a puddle of my own disbelief as I look at the calendar and shake my head. Could it be? Could it really be?
I can't believe it, but it is.
It's finally August.
Busy
Not sure if we'll be able to sort out what happened, but perhaps a classic Proper Admin can at least start us down the right path. My theory is that I've been busy, capital-B Busy, a fact known to recent readers. This result was driven mostly by a combination of work and an apartment search. The latter is settled (unless I am the unwitting victim of the most complex, slow-moving scam of all time) so I'm hoping August is a little easier for me in terms of finding time for TOA.
Busy, so what?
The biggest problem with being busy is related to a point I highlighted in a review of Jenny Odell's How To Do Nothing - an erosion of attention makes it difficult to live a life where we want what we want to want. I think a busy time in its own way is an erosion of attention, in the sense that the insights from paying attention don't have an opportunity for immediate application. Being busy means that decisions regarding what we want are rendered effectively meaningless because we are too busy doing something else to exercise choice. I know there was a version of July that I would have enjoyed, but it didn't really happen because of the other commitments on my calendar.
If being busy is such a problem, why is everyone happily busying themselves being busy all the time?
I suspect that as hard as it is to be busy, it's harder to have nothing to do. If you are busy then you might be dissatisfied knowing that you aren't living the life you want to live, but if you aren't busy then you might become dissatisfied with the realization that you have no idea what kind of life you want to live. I think if you ask people to choose from those existential crises, they would overwhelming prefer the former, and that's why everyone is so busy.
If I'm in a certain type of crowd (let's say this means I'm more likely to casually say "bullshit" than "reparations") then I'll describe this as a problem of imagination. I think it's easier for people to accept this fact about themselves if it's framed in such a way. The problem when you aren't busy is that at some point you need to call on your imagination, your creativity, but for most people this is where the real problem starts because you slowly realize that living the life you want to live starts by imagining it.
There's a version of this problem I notice at work that makes a great example. I occasionally encounter people who enjoy being busy, but it seems that these people are always in some kind of operational capacity where being busy represents a form of career opportunity. On the other hand, there is no more demoralized person in your organization than the busy creative. If your job requires creativity but your calendar is full, you might as well just stop answering emails and start updating your resume.
I mean, if you have this much to say about being busy, why not just write a post about it? Why waste time doing this half-assed proper admin?
I'm too busy.
Wait, how do you know you're busy, anyway? Walking around and sneering at tourists isn't being busy, it's being ob-
I had my suspicions all month, but I knew for sure twenty minutes ago when I was relieved that August 1 fell on a Sunday, freeing me of my self-imposed obligation to write a Serious Sunday Post. Like I mentioned just now, being creative is a massive challenge when there are twenty little admin explosions going off all over your schedule. There are also some other compelling stats to back up my claim - my overall writing time is way down compared to this time last year, and my total reading for 2021 is behind the pace required if I want to read somewhere between 60 and 72 books this year.
Another way to think about being busy is to compare it to my priority list and see what's hurting. Longtime readers may recall that I once figured out my personal priority list, which essentially calculated the way I manage time based on a study of my actual decisions. Reading and writing are down at the bottom of the top ten just behind groceries and laundry, which makes sense - there have been a couple of times in July when I had to postpone grocery shopping plans.
On a side note, I think the list holds up today with one exception - internet admin. I am spending far too much time on the internet now, likely at the expense of sleep. My tentative updated list would need to move internet admin up to #6, bumping sleep down to #7. Maybe I should do an official update sometime in August.
OK, busy bee, so what's the plan?
I think being busy is similar to a lot of low-grade afflictions. The remedy is a combination of patience, self-care, and a willingness to take charge of whatever is in my control. In terms of work, I'm planning on taking a page from (certain) helmet football playbooks and working on a version of a script for the first few minutes of each day. I'm envisioning something that will help me get a sense of what's going on, setting priorities, and the like - simple, basic stuff, but the kind of necessary work that tends to get forgotten during a busy period when we succumb to the temptation of becoming purely interruption-driven. I think if I can devote the first fifteen minutes of each day (and possibly the last few minutes, as well) for scripting, it should have a good effect on how I manage the rest of my time.
The personal side is a little different. Unlike with work, where there is sometimes little we can do in terms of exerting control over the schedule, the personal life is more about acknowledging that a lot of what happens is partly a result of our own choices (I am, after all, choosing to move). I think there is also more to learn because there is less of an external structure holding things in place, allowing for greater spontaneity and iteration when compared to work. I have noticed, for example, that being busy is helping me resolve a very specific problem - I am now waking up by 7:30 AM on most days. This isn't a result of going to bed earlier, but it does suggest an opportunity if I could find a way to move my bedtime forward by an hour or two. The key step is probably back to that internet admin - if the computer is closed and shut for good by 7 or 8 PM, it puts me on track for better sleep, which might help restore the energy levels required to get through the busy period. More importantly, if I take this opportunity to establish a better sleeping habit, then in some ways the inconvenience of having been busy over these past few weeks will have been worth the hassle.
It's not a clean solution, but the problem isn't exactly rocket science, either. It's something like what Barry Hearn said thirty minutes into the podcast I highlighted two weeks ago - the solution to a recession is to start an hour earlier and finish an hour later. I'm not sure if Barry Hearn is qualified to explain macroeconomics, but the spirit of the insight is invaluable. There is an aspect to every problem that can be defeated with hard work, and although it shouldn't be the only tool in the arsenal it should always be utilized to its fullest capability. I suspect my solution to being busy is something in that ballpark - since I'm already feeling a bit maxed out from the hours perspective, it's about finding a better energy level for those hours, and that's going to take some hard work in terms of improving my sleep.
Sound like you have a lot to do!
Have you been listening? I said I was busy, and I am busy, so it's time to go.
Thanks for reading! See you in August.
