let's get down to busyness

A friend (hat tip to Chris Snider) forwarded a research paper based on a survey of 20,000 self-identifying Christians across the world about busy-ness. (The research and my comments may be most applicable to Christians, but are still quite relevant independent of religious affiliation.)

Some of the results:
-Africa is the continent in which people are least likely to say "I rush from task to task" (33% vs. 44%), but tied for most likely to say "The busyness of my life gets in the way of developing my relationship with God". In other words, they are least likely to be busy, but most likely to see their busyness as a problem. I wonder if this is a cultural phenomenon, a function of a higher degree of recent modernization there, or some other factor.
-Of notable country results: Japan is the country in which people feel most busy (57% vs. second-place 49%), but they rank middle-of-the-pack in concern about busyness. Hong Kong is middle-of-the-pack in feeling busy but least concerned about it.
-Of more local interest, North America edges out the other continents in both categories and America is near the top in both. The religious self-identification is troublesome here, since many people (especially in America) are "cultural Christians". In other words, are these results about being Christian or being American?

What to do about this?

On the one hand, busy-ness is little or no problem. When students drop my office, they almost always ask "Are you busy?" It's mostly out of politeness that they ask, I suppose. And I appreciate the implied concern about whether I'm too busy. But taking them literally, "are you busy" is actually a funny question. The thought that always flashes through my mind-- and sometimes through my mouth (playfully)-- is "No, I'm just sitting here!"

So, concern about busy-ness begs the question: with what things are we busy? More particularly, are we too busy to spend "enough" time with family and friends, to enjoy leisure and nature sufficiently, to complete our tasks on the job and in the home?

And to what extent does busy-ness detract from the spiritual side of life? If one is active (i.e., busy) by investing in a relationship with God through prayer, study, solitude, etc., what's the problem? Concerns about busy-ness must reflect dissatisfaction about the amounts of time spent in such activities vs. other.

A few thoughts:

-Part of the problem is a failure to recognize the necessity of trade-offs and the economic concept of "opportunity costs". Since we're not omnipresent, we typically choose between a multitude of positive choices. And when we choose one thing, we forgo the others. If we focus on what we could have done, instead of what we're doing, we're likely to be concerned about a sort of busyness that cannot be avoided. Lesson: enjoy the moment.

-Part of the problem is that we sense that we're not that efficient and therefore "waste time". For example, I've heard this concern from those who watch quite a bit of TV-- that you're just sitting there and all of a sudden, an hour (or an evening) is gone. In the moment, it seems ok; in the end, that use of time often induces guilt. Lessons: practice the (spiritual) discipline of fasting from such activities on occasion &/or establish guidelines for their use (i.e., kill or at least wound your TV) &/or purpose to substitute positive things (e.g., serve others, read a book) that are on your list of things-to-do.

-Surely, we are tempted (by the world, the flesh, and the devil) to be focused on temporal things rather than eternal things. Thus, we are likely to over-invest in the former and under-invest in the latter. As we analyze the way in which we spend our time objectively and after-the-fact, we are likely to be disappointed with our choices we make. Lessons: invest in the (spiritual ) discipline of solitude and put together an annual list of goals in each facet of you life (and check it at the end of the year).

OK, now get busy wrestling with your busyness!