Why Do We Glorify Being Busy?

Whenever somebody asks me "Hey! How's life going!?"  I almost always without fail reply.  "Super busy, but great!"

I do this because saying "oh you know, things are super laid back and easy right now." somehow seems equal to saying "I'm a lazy bum who has no work ethic and just sits around on my ass every day."

Where along the way did we as a society suddenly decide busy is better, that busy means you're successful, and that busy is a good thing?

Now don't get me wrong, I was a self employed college student for years… I understand busy.   I know there are seasons of your life where it just can't be helped.  But I do think a lot of times we don't understand or value personal downtime as much as we should anymore.

But like Kate was talking about in Monday's kick ass post, as creative people, busy can simply suck us dry and take over our lives.  We NEED that down time to relax, recharge, be inspired and have quiet time to work.

No one is going to carve out that time in our lives for us.  It has to be a choice.  We have to choose to say no to one more item in our schedule and protect our personal creative time.

It comes down to this… would you rather lead a busy life, or a productive one?  Busy people spend their lives running around looking like they are being productive, but in the end they never spend enough time in one place focusing on any one task to be productive.  Productive people spend their time fiddling in their garage with stuff that interests them until they've built the worlds first personal computer. The choice is yours.  :)

Here's a short awesome video from Thrash Lab talking about this very same thing!

Challenge #8: Just Say No - Protecting Your Creative Space

Hi my name is Kadie and I suffer from something known as "The Yes Addiction."  

If you’re a creative, there are major risks involved in engaging in "The Yes Addiction". Research shows that often abstinence from saying yes is the safest option for creatives. “No” can’t protect them from every risk, but it can lessen the odds of creative block, depression, burn out and anxiety significantly. 

We all know the major issues associated with "The Yes Addiction":

• More than 360,000 creatives will never get around to finishing their art projects
• Half of those creatives will suffer severe depression over the lack of progress they make in their work
• An estimated 8,300 creative ideas will never be thought of each week due to "The Yes Addiction."
• Every 11 seconds, a creative will give into "The Yes Addiction."

*All stats came from the mind of Kadie Pangburn and are completely made up, but probably true.  "The Yes Addiction" is also not yet clinically recognized but might as well be.

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Your creative space is like a precious flower.  You have to protect it from all those who may try to steal it away from you.  Many times society may not understand and think you are selfish for keeping your flower all to yourself.  But at those moments you have to stand firm, take action and just say no.  Giving your flower away to anyone and everyone will only cause you grief and heartache and leave you frustrated. 

Your creative space is what fuels your creative mind.  It is your time to work and play and grow and inspire your creative self.  Without it, most creatives burn out and suffer from creative blocks.

It's hard to protect our creative space because we often are made to feel selfish by doing so.  We don't have "The Man" telling us we need to buckle down and work because we are "The Man" and it's hard for society to understand that at times.

If an accountant is asked to do something and replies: "I wish I could but I have to stay late at work this week."  Society gets it, they understand, they don't hold it against the guy.  If a creative person is asked the same question and they reply: "I wish I could but I need get in some time at my studio this week." Society often replies with "well couldn't you just put that off and do it some other time?"

For years I've lived with the bad habit of treating no like a dirty word.  I didn't want to disappoint people, or have them not like me anymore by saying no to them.  So I gave in and said yes, thinking "what could it hurt?"  Turns out a lot.

I ended up giving away all my creative space.  My projects didn't get finished, I didn't have the time to gain the inspiration I needed to fuel my creativity, and I worked on projects I wasn't passionate about and only served to harm my creative spirit.

It has only been in the last year or so I have really come to understand the beauty and power of the word no.

No is not selfish.  No is self empowerment.

No means that you are recognizing your needs as a human being, especially as a creative human being and listening to them.  You know what's best for you and you are giving yourself the authority to act on it.

So your challenge this week is to work up the gumption and empower yourself with the ability to say no and protect your creative space!

Some people may not understand, and that's ok.  You need to give yourself the authority to know what is best for you and what is not and when you know what that thing is to hold on to it dearly and never let it go.  And that my friends will get you further in life that simply always saying "yes" ever will.  

Don't forget this week we are giving away FREE STUFF!  All you have to do is share your own #something awesome on our Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest to enter!  We'll be picking one lucky winner at the end of the week!