I was mowing over the weekend and all of a sudden these mini-epiphanies started hitting me about bees and busyness. Recently I read a couple articles about why we need to stop bragging about being busy. We all do this by the way. Someone asks how you’re doing and we respond, “Staying busy.” Sometimes we even take it to the next level and list everything we are doing in life just to prove how busy we are. The articles comment on these behaviors and basically say that being busy is a new status symbol and if we aren’t bragging about how busy we are afraid that society won’t value us.
Here is where the bees come in, because there is a saying “busy as bees”. When I was mowing I realized that we have been viewing bees incorrectly. We associate them with being busy when we should associate them with being FOCUSED.
Think for a moment. What are you like and how do you feel when you are BUSY? I feel chaotic, frantic, consumed by activity, like I’m spinning my wheels, not productive, etc. What are you like and how do you feel when you are FOCUSED? I feel honed in, powerful, clarity, streamlined, productive, etc. Big difference right?
Traditionally, we assume bees are busy, because we see them flying around everywhere. We see activity. What we don’t understand is that their activity is focused on one or two goals, gathering food or contributing to the hive. That’s focus. That’s not just being busy. That’s not just activity.
When I think about my career, I don’t think I being busy vs. focused was a matter of the hours I put in. Instead, it was a matter of having my priorities right. What I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt is that when I’m focused my work is leap and bounds better than when I am busy all of the time. Contrary to what we would like to think and tell others, when I’m busy I’m not productive or valuable. When I am focused I am a heck of a lot more valuable to work, my family, and my friends.
Are you a busy bee or a focused bee?
Have a jolly good day,
Andrew Embry
Links to the article I mentioned.
Striking Matches 