Boss of Busy, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 3Hit the reset button

It's Saturday morning, the sun is shining, the air has a crisp freshness and the clear cloudless sky has not looked this blue in over a week.

But all this goes unnoticed because there's stuff to do. Saturday morning is the time to get ahead, to get on top of things — in between coffee runs, supermarket runs and actual runs. At best, we give the day outside a cursory glance and perhaps say something like, ‘Once this is done, I'll get to enjoying that' or ‘Next weekend we'll organise a picnic' or ‘I'll chill out later when I'm finished' — you know, that mythical, magical time when it will ‘all be done', when ‘finished' is indeed ‘finished'.

Being busy all the time has become a badge of honour — albeit a heavy, awkward, uncomfortable badge that doesn't go with any of your outfits let alone your favourite shoes but, hey, it's the latest fashion accessory and who are you to deny fashion? Dr Brené Brown's research explores this phenomenon, and she claims that in our collective mindset ‘exhaustion has become a status symbol'. We're participating in an unspoken race where the most exhausted wins. Think about the conversations you have when people ask you how you are. Your response? ‘Busy' [insert overwhelmed sigh, shoulder droop, and eye-roll for effect]. Then the one-upping starts. ‘Me too.' ‘Yeah? You think you're busy and exhausted?! WELL … I haven't slept since Ferris Buller had his day off!'¹ This hidden race to tiredness is coming at a physical ...