Who cares how busy you are?

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life"

I called a couple of my pals today and they said “buddy, I am busy, I will call you back”. And of course both missed to return with the response.

Buddies – No offense meant. This isn’t just about you guysJ

In fact that’s something that we hear and say quite often in our daily life and is not very strange to our ears.


Then why should it bother me or for that matter anyone?  What impact does it have on our personal relations? To answer that, Yes ! It does make a BIG difference when it comes to maintaining good relations. It actually depends on how many times and for how long it’s being said. If you say it for few days, it means you are really busy. If you say it for few weeks, it means you are unable to manage your time and need some help with your time management. But how about those who say it for months and years and their busy schedule just doesn’t seem to change? It just means they are trying to show off to the world that they are doing something big.  What else can explain someone not being able to return with a response for several months?

I mean no offense to anyone. Before anyone starts judging, let me tell this, they may not be actually showing off, they are rather just being insensitive or self indulgent or both. But whatever might the reason be, it just does not matter. What does matter is, the way it is perceived. And perception is more often than not a reality. People care two hoots about what the other person does.  Everyone is busy doing something. Would someone call a friend because he or she has nothing else to do? if the response is “I am busy” and that too, time and again, though unintentional, would it not amount to insulting the other person? So undoubtedly it will have a negative impact on our personal relations.

Does it also impact professional life? I would say yes. The importance of having healthy relations cannot be undermined for any successful career. Many have a misconception that efficiency alone will take them up the corporate ladder. I am not saying you need to kiss someone’s bottom, but maintaining good and cordial relations is as important as being efficient. In fact the one who cannot maintain good relations is more often than not perceived to be inefficient for business though in reality he or she is efficient. Needless to say, “perceptions”- ARE realities.

A lesser efficient person with better response to people is likely to have better relations and thereby greater success in the long run, in comparison to a highly efficient one with poor response. This isn’t rocket science. This is something WE expect from others and hence it’s only fair we stick to it. If we take a minute to turnaround and find who we like the most, those faces who spare time and attention to us would strike our mind first than those who are ultra efficient.

This isn’t about one person. This is about an attitude or should I call it a disorder of sorts that many suffer with, more so in 20’s and early 30’s. One gets a job, starts climbing the corporate ladder and there is this urge to show to the world that I am busy, I am handling so many things.. lab lab lab.  In the process we just forget that everyone else is doing almost the same.  After a point in time, one of them gets tired of it and that becomes the tipping point for that relation. College friends once very close, almost inseparable and invincible, just vanish a few years later.  Colleagues who once shared an amazing professional relation, a few years later just don’t find enough time to at least wish each other on special occasions. A Couple not getting enough of each other, find it hard to find any time for each other.  Husband does not have time for wife and vice versa.

I am not saying it happens with everyone and every human relation but never the less it happens and the question is not how many times it happens but rather WHY does it happen? To me it appears absurd.  I am not trying to answer that question here. I am no expert to enlighten anyone on it. But as I said, this isn’t any rocket science either. It is a simple common sense. But then, common sense is anything but common J