You Might Be Too Busy IF...

A few weeks ago I found myself frustrated by the fact that I was too busy to enjoy life's little pleasures. For example, I had gotten a new I-Touch for my birthday and hadn't had time to explore and my OLPC laptop had finally arrived and there had not been even a moment to open the box. So what did I do? I created a diversion by wasting time on Twitter asking my community to finish the "Jeff Foxworthy" (of You might be a redneck if.. fame) like statement..  The responses were hilarious! Mostly because they were all so true! Read them over and see if you haven't been there!

So here you go..compliments of Twitter-- oh btw.. if you have one to add- please do in comments. Thanks my fellows Twits! You are too funny!

You might be too busy if...

• you can't wait to leave work... to go home and do more work.
• your husband and children go on vacations (without you) and you are happy :-)
• your to-do list is a list of to-do lists.
• you say you're too busy to learn how RSS can reduce your stress!
• your calendar is full through May and it is only January!
• you took the Christmas decorations down 2 weeks. ago, but all the boxes are still in the living room.
• you wake up in the morning, get dressed and ready for work...then realize it's Saturday!
• your 5 yr old says, "Are you done yet, I need to work on the computer now!"
• your cell phone vibrating makes a hole in your pocket!
• you discover that you already made the entire wiki for the workshop and had completely forgotten that you'd done it!
• hot chocolate and pizza logs eaten at a skating rink constitute dinner. Twice a week. For four months.
• you look at your calendar and don't see Saturday or Sunday.
• there are so many things to do that you can't decide which to start, so sit and stare at twitter.
• you've already put in 8 hours before you take that shower!
• you spend four days trying to accomplish 1 thing, and realize that u have finished many other tasks but still not that 1 thing.
• you have yet to turn on for the 1st time the new Macbook pro you got back in Dec.
• you rush to brush your teeth and realize you've used Preparation H instead of Crest.
• you realize you haven't done laundry, so you just wear two different socks under your boots, hoping no one will notice.
• you have to schedule time on your calendar for a restroom break.
• you forget to eat lunch even after several people remind you!
• school ends in an hour and you haven't eaten lunch.
• you don't have time to replace the dead batteries in your PDA.
• you think it's still Monday.  (Ha - just kidding - I know it's really Tuesday.  Wait.  What?)
• you can't remember if you ate or just thought about eating.
• you still have unopened boxes  of palm pilots and document cameras.
• you are grading papers in January that were turned in mid November.
• you're 3/4 of the way through the day before you actually think about what you want to accomplish for the day.
• you look up at the clock and 6 hours have passed without you noticing.
• your desk has too many piles that you resort to working elsewhere.
• you spend more time adding things to your to-do list than actually DOING them.
• you spend so much time organizing your to-do's that you have no time to actually do (been there, done that :-))
• you have MAIL from 6 weeks ago you haven't opened yet.
• you do not notice your "Currently" Twitter comment is almost three days old.
• you haven't got time to write a 140 character reply to Sheryl!

Comments

[ffoxworth]

Great list! I could relate to many of them. It's hard to juggle the real and digital worlds. Sometimes digital seems easier, more stress-free to manage, but we are humans, and the real world is calling! We must break free from our computers and enter the reality of our loved ones. After all, that is REAL life! :)

[JackieB]

Nice! I'll add one more: ...if it takes you a few weeks to write up a post from a Twitter poll.

Hey, you found time to write it up though, so it can't be all bad!

[GingerTPLC]

You are asked what your hobbies are and realize you don't engage in any of them for the past...who knows how long?

Hey, this is easier w/o the 140 character limit! But it turns out that it still fits...

Great list--I especially like the one about 8 hours of work before morning shower...that's me for sure!

Just figured up that a "regular day" for me = 15 hours, 10 of them with students. I'm working 90 hour weeks; why hasn't my husband left me yet?

[Brian C. Smith]

This just about summed up my last 3 months. Thanks, this is a really fun post. I'm saving this for a long time. :)

[Cory Plough]

You might to busy if: you spent 16 hours on the computer today and are mad you have to go to sleep.

Great blog post, funny and so very true.

[kate]

ahh this is just all too familiar! scary! :)

[Jill Elfering]

...when you finally get around to clearing the work off your desk, and you realize most of it has expired and you can just throw it away!

[Carolyn Foote]

One I think I should add--

When you decide to get busy building your website for your next workshop and go to your own website and realize you've already done it, but didn't remember!

Thanks for compiling this fun list :)
Carolyn

[John in NC]

You make a pact with yourself not to get up before 7 a.m. -- on Saturday.

The Friday nite poker game is cancelled and you try to convince your wife those can now be WORK hours!

You start thinking overwork is heroic.

[sasha]

The socks one reminded me about my "too busy" statement to add -- you're too busy to match socks so you send your own children out the door with non-matching socks and tell them it's the newest trend. :D

[Janice Friesen]

Thanks SO much. Boy can I identify. I would add "when you wish you didn't need 7 1/2 hours of sleep a night to function", but it is too serious. I just cannot work past 10 or get up before 5:30!! I am so glad I am not the only one.

Janice

[LaDonna Coy]

You might be too busy IF you don't take the time to carefully (and daily) monitor your contract -- running out of billable hours while continuing to work ... for two full weeks ... for free! Argh!

[kim]

I thought this was extremely humorous, and I needed a really good laugh, thanks!

[Julie Lindsay]

Sheryl, thanks for the chance to feel some affinity with others around the world.

My contribution:
You might be too busy IF you have a child free weekend and you and spouse spend it working all the time and ordering take-out...it's sad ;-)

[kristen]

Love the list ;-)
On a serious note, when colleagues of mine talk about how we can close the achievement gap for our students, the topic of lengthening the school day and year always come up. If your focus is on achievement then yes, this sounds like a good idea. However, how soon we forget that this life is about life not work. yes we need to work to survive and we need to prepare our students for the real world. But let them have their time to be young and make mistakes. teachers too need a small break; most teachers are working a month after school ends and then a month before school starts anyway!

[kristen]

Love the list ;-)
On a serious note, when colleagues of mine talk about how we can close the achievement gap for our students, the topic of lengthening the school day and year always come up. If your focus is on achievement then yes, this sounds like a good idea. However, how soon we forget that this life is about life not work. yes we need to work to survive and we need to prepare our students for the real world. But let them have their time to be young and make mistakes. teachers too need a small break; most teachers are working a month after school ends and then a month before school starts anyway!

[Emily]

What is all of this for if we don't get time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. I think that it is so important to slow down and smell the roses. There is more to life than work and technology, its the little things that count.