6 Areas of Your Life Damaged By Being Too Busy
My life is still too busy, but I have found the concepts of overload and Margin to be not only useful but nearly transforming in my life. Reading Dr. Richard Swenson’s book was a true awakening for me. “Oh, that’s my problem!”
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Like many, I assumed that my life was out of my control. I just had too much to do, too many demands placed on me. I was frustrated, but I really didn’t think I could do anything about it. Then I read about margin and I realized that feeling that I lacked control was exactly my problem! I had the same 24 hours in a day that you have, and how I use that time is really mostly up to me. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have enough time – the typical perception of busyness. The real problem was “overload” – I was allowing other forces to take control of what I did in the time I had. Once I recognized the real problem, I decided to apply some Catholic principles that I had been teaching but not living. I began to exercise the cardinal virtue of prudence. I can honestly say that my life has changed. Busyness has all but disappeared.
And that is what I’d like to share with you in this series and beyond.
Now, what I have been applying to my life so far is pretty focused on time management. And that’s what we’ve been discussing so far in this series. But these concepts can actually be applied to a number of areas in life. So in this post, I want to just explore some possible spheres in which we could apply these concepts. Getting deeply into each area is beyond the scope of this series. But the “Planning for Grace” program can take you as deeply into each of these domains as you want to go.
Introducing No Margin Ned!
This guy created a series of videos on YouTube illustrating what life is like when you live on the edge of overload. These videos are brief, hilarious and great illustrations!
Six Effects of Being Too Busy
Do you feel like these 6 areas of your life are out of control?
Time
We’ve already explored the idea of margin in time when we discussed the myth of busyness, and this will be our area of focus. When you take control of your time, you empower yourself to focus on what is most important. You, therefore, do not feel like life is “passing you by.” You have a strong sense of control over your time. You, therefore, don’t feel harried and rushed all the time. You don’t feel like you can’t fit another thing into your schedule, though you’re going to be judicious about what you choose to add. When the unexpected happens, you have the flexibility necessary to adapt.
Physical Energy
Much of our problem with overload is related to a lack of physical energy. This lack of energy is caused by being out of shape, lacking sleep, and eating poorly. At the same time that medical advances have gotten rid of many threats to human health, we are allowing bad habits to give us a “disease of lifestyle.” 50% of all deaths are related to lifestyle choices (Swenson, 96).
If you are able to build “margin” in physical energy, your energy levels stay fairly constant throughout the day without a large crash (except for the natural circadian rhythm low that happens in the early afternoon – prime time for a short nap). You can enjoy a productive, high energy day and rest at the end of the day in a satisfying way, rather than collapsing from exhaustion.
Emotional Energy
Emotional overload saps our strength, paralyzes our resolve, makes us more vulnerable, and erodes margin in other areas.
If you have “emotional margin,” you are empowered to confront problems and challenges with hope and a sense of power. Think of emotional energy like a bank account. All of us have a limited amount of emotional energy in our account. Overdrawing our account causes us pain. However, we can also make a deposit into this account. Building emotional margin is a matter of recognizing when we are approaching our limits, knowing when and how to put on the brakes, and how to recharge our emotional batteries.
Finances
Living with financial margin means first of all living within our financial means. Debt is the main symptom of financial overload. However, according to financial expert Thomas Zordani, financial margin also includes having enough money saved to plan for the unexpected. In his book Faith Finances, Zordani recommends saving up to six months’ worth of income as an “emergency fund.” His book also has many other recommendations for creating “financial margin.”
Having “financial margin” gives you peace of mind and a sense of security. It is also the most practical form of margin. It can really save you when the unexpected expense comes up, or if you suddenly lose your source of income.
Morality
Without “moral margin,” you are always living on the edge of sin. You may worry about the salvation of your soul because you can’t seem to kick the bad moral habits that continue to drag you down.
Living with “moral margin” begins with knowing what kind of person you want to become and what kind of person God created you to be and working toward those goals. It means erecting a hedge around yourself to protect you from sin – this is called “avoiding the near occasion of sin.” It means seeking the greatest good, rather than simply trying to avoid sin. This not only gives you a sense of peace about your eternal destiny, but it also fills you with joy, peace, and excitement.
Relationships
When you nurture margin in your relationships, you give your relationships the greatest gift you can. What Matthew Kelly calls “carefree timelessness.” This is the ability to completely dedicate yourself to being present with those you love, to the point that you lose all track of time. Total presence is the best way to nourish relationships.
On the other hand, if you’re too busy to nurture your relationships, you shouldn’t be surprised when you start to feel distant and disconnected from others.
So these are just six domains where we can build margin. And if we do, we will find the peace and happiness that alludes us in our overloaded world.
I’m speaking from experience here – from the overloaded side. I came very close to burnout a few years ago. This past year, I discovered this concept and have since been working out how to use this concept. I’ll share with you some of my successes and ongoing challenges – and hopefully, I’ll bring you to the magic place of marginland a lot sooner than I got there!
So the next question that would be natural to ask is how do we build margin? We’ll begin to tackle that question in the next article. For now, I’ll give you the quick answer – the secret that I discovered. The virtue of prudence is the secret weapon against being too busy.
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Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.
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[…] we’ve talked about the virtue of prudence. We’ve seen how this virtue can help us take control of our time and move our lives forward. This is the first step in using virtue to fulfill your human […]
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