In a post from the archive, Dave Mashburn reminds us that leaders have struggled with being too busy for more than 2000 years.
In modern life, busyness is a distraction from living. Many dutifully fulfill their obligations but fail to do anything truly worthwhile.
Ancient Romans suffered from the same problem. Seneca berated his readers for failing to see time as a valuable commodity:
‘For suppose you should think that a man had had a long voyage who had been caught in a raging storm as he left the harbor, and carried hither and thither and driven round and round in a circle by the rage of opposing winds? He did not have a long voyage, just a long tossing about.’
Busyness is an addiction that prevents us from becoming our best selves.
Seneca could have been speaking directly to us when he said::
‘Everyone hustles his life along and is troubled by a longing for the future and weariness of the present. But the man who organizes every day as though it were his last, neither longs for nor fears the next day.’
Here’s some age old advice as you head into your weekend: Slow down and ground yourself to the most important values and objectives you have identified for your life.
And then help others to do the same.
