The “Busy” Brag: Why Your Overpacked Calendar is a Form of Laziness

In the newsroom, “Dead Air” is the enemy. If a television broadcast goes silent or a radio host stops talking, it’s a disaster. But life isn’t a 24-hour news cycle. Somewhere along the way, we started treating our personal lives like a broadcast that can never have a gap.

We’ve turned “busy” into a status symbol. If your calendar isn’t a solid block of color, you feel like you’re failing. But as an editor, I can tell you: A page with no margins is impossible to read.

1. Busy-ness as a Buffer
We often fill our schedules to avoid the discomfort of our own thoughts. If you have three back-to-back dinners and a weekend full of “must-do” errands, you never have to ask yourself the hard questions.

Over-scheduling is a sophisticated form of avoidance. It’s much easier to manage a to-do list than it is to manage your own soul. We are “productive” so we don’t have to be “present.”

2. The Difference Between “Motion” and “Action”
In writing, there is a difference between typing and writing. You can type 10,000 words a day and still produce nothing but gibberish.

High-performers understand the power of the “Strategic Pause.” A professional athlete doesn’t sprint 24 hours a day; they spend the majority of their time in recovery. If you are always in motion, you lose the ability to see the big picture. You are so busy putting out fires that you haven’t noticed the building is actually made of ice and is melting anyway.

3. Protecting Your “White Space”
In graphic design, “White Space” isn’t empty space—it’s the space that allows the subject to pop. It’s what makes a luxury brand look expensive and a cheap flyer look cluttered.

Your life needs more white space.

The “No-Meeting” Wednesday: Protect a block of time where you are unreachable.

The Unscheduled Saturday: Wake up with zero plans. See where your curiosity takes you when there is no “destination.”

The Art of the Stare: Try sitting for ten minutes without a phone, a book, or a podcast. Just stare out the window. It will feel itchy at first. That itch is your creativity trying to wake up.