Good Busy and Bad Busy - Which is Which?
When are you being busy for the right reasons and how can you channel it more effectively.
I saw an article this week stating what felt pretty obvious to me, “Is Being Busy Good for People With A.D.H.D.?” which was about a study that found ADHD is less severe for people with a demanding schedule.
Completely unrelated, a headline crossed my path the same day saying “Busy is the New Lazy.” Sadly, I didn’t bookmark it (or even open it in a new tab!) so I don’t recall where it was. Doing a search for the term reveals that it’s a widely held belief, and goes back over a decade.
Both are true, in their own context. The ‘lazy’ headline is just ‘good marketing’ since it gets you to click. The problem boils down to what we call ‘busy’ and how we manage our time.
I can be busy all day, doing things that are unimportant, I can be lazy all day playing games. At least with being lazy, I get some mental recharge.
I wrote about finding the right amount of Chaos a while back. We could swap Chaos and Busy in this headline and get the same results.
Chances are pretty good that you WANT to be busy, but you also want to feel like the things you’re busy doing actually MEAN something. The trick is finding a way to be busy while also doing something meaningful.
Channeling Chaos == Prioritizing Busy
I love the chaos in my life, when it feels like I’m able to work with it. I find that the chaos brings with it a need for creative thinking and problem-solving. If you re-frame “chaos” to mean “busy” then you can see how there is a good and a bad version.
Good Busy looks like performing tasks that move you towards a milestone or goal.
Bad Busy looks like performing tasks that appear to be ‘work related’ but they don’t directly ‘move the needle.’
For me, I’ve always found myself happiest as a product launch or deadline was looming. I was forced to live in ONLY Good Busy mode to get things done. More importantly, the pressure made each task obvious and easy to prioritize. The short time-line didn’t leave room for Bad Busy.
When I’m between projects, or if when I don’t have a clear project, I end up feeling like all I do is Bad Busy stuff.
How do we create a type of chaos that lets us be ‘Good Busy’?
Finding purpose, channeling chaos or just being the good kind of busy is all about 3 things:
Prioritization - When we know what matters and what doesn’t, it becomes more obvious what we should work on.
Imminence - While some people are able to care about something due in 3 months, many (maybe most?) of us are not going to prioritize tasks that won’t be noticed until closer to the deadline.
Routine - Having enough of a regular schedule that allows Chaos Channeling for a finite amount of time, consistently, will let you get the things done that need to be done.
There are danger zones, it’s important that you spot them for yourself. Things that make it easy to slip into bad busy are:
Boredom - You might have a full-time job, but if it feels pointless, is too easy or leaves you with more time than tasks, you can easily find yourself seeking something more stimulating to work on.
Overwhelm - When the list is too long, the instructions are confusing, or the timing is out of whack, you can end up feeling like it’s all ‘too much’ and just do the easiest thing you can reach that gives you a dopamine hit.
Lack of Clarity - Whether its bad instructions or your own unfocused goal, when you’re not sure what to work on, you can easily get busy with the wrong things.
The perfect storm for a Good Busy working session is a keen understanding of why you’re working on that task, why you’re working on it right now, why it matters to you, a sense that now is the right time to be working on it, and plenty of room to work on this without distraction.
There is a lot of WHY involved in Good Busy.
Finding a Flow State
The goal is to have a perfect gumbo of all the good stuff mentioned above.
The more clear your goal and task, the easier it is to flow from one thing to the next productively.
The feeling that working on it ‘right now’ is the best solution means you’ve prioritized well enough (even if it’s involuntary) to let you confidently put other things out of mind.
If you want to be able to reproduce a Good Busy day, having a block of time that is untouched by distraction or other appointments is key. Setting a schedule for “Good Busy” makes it even easier to keep “Bad Busy” at bay.
For me, that looks like:
Creating a 90-minute chunk, typically in the morning, for my peak creative self. I have a mental picture of what I want to do… that means I’ve internalized the list of tasks, or the bigger goal.
I sit at my desk, close all the things, turn on music I can’t sing along to, open the digital creation solution (Notion, Substack Editor, Canva, whatever) and start to work.
Sometimes I have to sit and ‘get in the zone’ by reading my notes about the thing I’m working on, but typically it’s been bouncing around my head for a bit before I start. Again, having an internal vision helps a TON.
Chaos, or rather Busy-ness is Subjective, but Controllable
Whether you have ADHD, Autism, or are anywhere in the Neurodiverse Universe (Neurodi-universe?) you have your own chaos in your head or life. That isn’t a bad thing, contrary to the aforementioned article, it’s just YOUR thing.
If you’re finding a way to be busy with the things that matter to you, you’ll be able to complete your projects with a sense of confidence and pride.
When your vision is clear about what you’re creating, or doing, it’s easier to skip the overwhelm and spend time meaningfully creating.
Sure, people with a busy schedule manage their ADHD better. EVERYONE with a busy schedule manages their time better. It’s unsurprising.
While someone with ADHD has some peculiar wiring going on, they’re still the same basic meat sack with the same need to be productive. Some aspects of our brain make life harder, some make it easier, and leveraging your unique version of chaos is what will ultimately guarantee your success.