The following was the “Reflection of the Day” in today’s Boston Globe. 

“The majority prove their worth by keeping busy.  A busy life is the nearest thing to a purposeful life.”

                                                                                                                ~ Eric Hoffer

I couldn’t disagree more.  Oh, I sadly agree that too many of us think our self-worth is based on how busy we are, what we do, how much we produce, the tangible results we get, the amount of money we make, and on and on.  But, in the pursuit of that, we lose our sense of purpose.  We don’t have time or, better said, we don’t make time to do those things that really provide meaning to our lives and those of others.  We are moving so fast and furiously that we don’t do the things that we do in a pursposeful way.  Instead, we do them to get them done, to ‘check the box’, to get on to the next thing.  But if we really get in touch with our passion and our life purpose, we can find ways to do even the mundane in purposeful ways.  I used to really hate folding laundry.  It was just another thing I had to do that got in the way of my doing things I wanted to do.   But, when I thought about it, I realized that folding laundry gave me a wonderful opportunity to slow down, create order out of a chaotic pile of clean clothes and express love for my family by providing this ’service’ for them.  I mean, who doesn’t love having a pile of fresh smelling clean clothes delivered to them?  I actually saw how doing this mundane task was in line with my purpose of providing a loving environment in which my children could grow up.  As they’ve gotten older, I’ve passed the responsibility of folding laundry on to my kids along with the sense of contribution that it makes, rather than a sense of burden. 

Many of my clients are overbooked with volunteer commitments, parenting responsibilities, jobs or job searches, family obligations and community service roles.  When they stop and take inventory, they realize that the things they really enjoy are consistent with their passion and purpose.  Together we find ways for them to walk away from, delegate or make a shift in how they approach those things that are mere burdensome tasks. 

It’s important to be mindful of the many things we do in our lives and be sure that we don’t confuse busy-ness with self worth or purposefulness.  We’re worthy just by virtue of being alive on the planet.  If we measure our worth by how busy we are, we are alway on edge, worrying that we might not be thought well of if we say ‘no’ to something, that we are unworthy if we miss a beat.  That’s purposeful?  Not unless our purpose is to live our lives on a roller coaster until we crash and burn.