The Busy Person’s Lies

#1

Post by dwynings » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 6:25 PM UTC

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#2

Post by dijit » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:11 PM UTC

The article seems to assume that context switching takes no time. If that were true I have a lot of free time.. it's just never contiguous.

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#3

Post by uberstuber » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:12 PM UTC

“To me, ‘busy’ implies that the person is out of control of their life.” – Derek Sivers

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#4

Post by rudolf0 » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:19 PM UTC

Part of it is that constantly being busy can create a lot of physical and mental fatigue and stress, making it difficult to do things you might otherwise even if there is some free time. "I never have time" can technically be a lie, "I can't do all this and stay sane" usually isn't.

I've found even the thought of worrying about work I need to do in the near future can prevent me from participating in hobbies, despite having ample time for those hobbies.

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#5

Post by huhtenberg » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:20 PM UTC

uberstuber wrote: post #3

“To me, ‘busy’ implies that the person is out of control of their life.” – Derek Sivers

Derek's wrong, of course.

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#6

Post by ryandrake » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:21 PM UTC

dijit wrote: post #2

The article seems to assume that context switching takes no time. If that were true I have a lot of free time.. it's just never contiguous.

Funny thing I noticed: when you start a family and have kids, you are forced to get better and better at the _skill_ of context switching quickly. You learn how to be productive with twelve 15-minute slots divided by interruptions instead of a contiguous 3 hours. Being able to do this is a skill like any other. I no longer buy the whole "in/out of the zone" thing as if it is some fundamental law of nature.

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#7

Post by cpwalker » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:22 PM UTC

From the article: "I think that time tracking deserves a try. A life is lived in hours. What we do with our lives will be a function of how we spend those hours, and we get only so many."

It's high-status to be busy. Time tracking, while useful for some, is more likely to be a way for people to play the status game.

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#8

Post by TeMPOraL » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:22 PM UTC

uberstuber wrote: post #3

“To me, ‘busy’ implies that the person is out of control of their life.” – Derek Sivers

Well, I am out of control of my life. Because I need money to live, and so does my family. So I'm slaving the days away.

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#9

Post by JPKab » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:23 PM UTC

The author is clearly well into the upper-middle class financially, talking about nannies and "solo beach days" on both coasts. Wow, how out of touch is the typical New York Times writer these days.

Poor and working class people have truly busy lives compared to professionals. We should all remember that.

Re: The Busy Person’s Lies

#10

Post by twoquestions » Thu, Dec 01, 2016, 7:23 PM UTC

There's quite a few money-budgeting apps out there (Mint, YNAB, etc...) to help you figure out where your money is going, but I haven't seen much for time-budgeting apps.

I know I wasn't great with money until I counted every cent for a while, I wonder if the same effect could be replicated for people who don't spend their time as effectively as they'd like.