DOING BUSY WELL

It’s okay to be busy! I bet you didn’t think I would tell you that on one of my blogs…but…it’s the truth. We are designed to be busy – after all we are made in the image of a brilliant God who certainly knows how to do busy well. At any one moment we have four to seven thoughts going through our brains as we respond to day to day life. Just living is a busy activity.
Doing busy badly will cause you to go into negative stress, which is stress stages two and three. Stage one of stress is good and happens when we do busy well.
What does doing busy badly look like? It is the:

• rapid haphazard shifting of attention from task-to-task;
• a lack of focused attention to a task or activity or written text
• ineffective concentration
• lack of deep intellectual thinking

And all the above will result in patterns of flightiness and a lack of peace, which in turn lead to bad choices and decision-making. In fact, we will move into a shallow passive mindless reactive mode, which is the exact opposite of what the bible tells us and the exact opposite of how God designed the brain. Colossians 3:15 in the Amplified bible says the following:
“And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts (deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state to which as members of Christ’s) one body you were also called to live. And be thankful (appreciative), giving praise to God always.”
Its only when our minds are at peace that we will hear the leading of the Holy Spirit and think clearly. Doing busy well means we are not shifting haphazardly between life events but that we are:

• interacting mindfully
• in a self-reflective way,
• thinking things through in a focused quality manner,
• listening, watching and reading intently,
• keeping our eye on one thing at a time and
• fixing it in our mind.

This does not mean that you slow down, it means the quality of how you spend each second of your time improves. It’s not about quantity; it’s all about quality. You can find more information on this in my new book: “Switch on Your Brain,” available at www.drleaf.com
In the next blog I will share with you how multitasking is a myth!

Originally posted: 23rd September, 2013
(c) Dr. Caroline Leaf.