Being busy 

I’ve been very busy lately. Getting up early, facilitating philosophical workshops and training sessions, preparing proposals, networking. After the children are in bed, I’ve been getting back to work to finish all the things I couldn’t do during the day. I am now in the situation in which most of my corporate clients are: snowed under, or as we say in French “under water”, “head in the handlebar.” 

I promised myself that when leaving the corporate world and creating my own business, I wouldn’t fall into the trap of busyness. I would master my most precious resource: time, and agree with Danish philosopher Kierkegaard: “busy is a decision.” But here it is: busy is back and I don’t always feel I’ve decided it. 

“Busyness” is a choice 

Seeing busyness as a decision however, and not just as something that happens to us, offers a very refreshing outlook on time. The way we spend our time is a decision. When we say “I don’t have time,” it’s not that we don’t have it, it is that we chose to do something else with it. We are often under the impression that time is not something we own, that others can snatch it away from us or waste it. This sometimes gives us the feeling that “time flies” or that “life is short.” But, as Stoic philosopher Seneca puts it, 

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it’s been given to us in generous manner, for accomplishing the greatest things, if the whole of it is well invested (…) So it is: the life we are given isn’t short, but we make it so. 

Seneca, On the Shortness of Life, 1.3 

Living with a purpose 

Seneca’s words are a great source of inspiration for two reasons: first because if we view time as our own, then it can never be wasted, it is in our power to decide what to do with it. Second, investing our time well means living our lives with purpose, in a conscious way, guided by our values —that is, making sure, even in busy times, that we know why we spend our time for what. 

What did you get in return? 

In the middle of my busy time, I recently prepared a proposal for a potential client. I spent a few hours on the phone with her, travelled for the day to meet her, gave many ideas for the subject she was consulting me for. The project didn’t work out and my initial reaction was that I’d lost my time. 

Reflecting on Seneca’s words though, I haven’t lost anything. I created a sincere relationship with her and got to discover a new business area. I shared my time in what I believe to be a generous way, and I will certainly make good use of all the ideas I gave her. Who knows what seeds we sow? If we make good use of our time, at least these seeds grow to expand our inner freedom—and this is never a waste of time. 

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Flora Bernard co-founded the Paris-based philosophy agency, Thae, in 2013. Flora now works to help organisations give meaning to what they do.

 

 

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