Occupied versus Busy

A few typos, and we have the title to a movie starring Lorenzo Lamas and Deborah Gibson: “Octopus versus Bees.”  Or something like that.

What I’m really thinking about is how busy I was today and how little I did that seemed worthwhile.  “Worthwhile” is one of those completely subjective English words, so it’s more of an observation than a judgment.  As we like to say in my house, “I am noticing, not judging.”  Although, I suppose I am entitled to judge myself, but…why would I do that to myself?  I mean, isn’t there enough external judgment in the world to go around.  So much so, I’d say, that I needn’t heap any upon myself, that’s for sure.  But, I digress.

I was busy today, but I didn’t do anything that made me feel good at the end of the day.  I would have rather been occupied by tasks that could make a difference in another person’s life.  Busy is mechanical, frenetic.  Occupied is creative, energetic.  I want to be occupied, not made busy.  Is that a childish aspiration?  To end the day feeling good about the stuff that occupied my time, stimulated my senses, and jazzed my soul?  Is it a lot to ask to want to settle down at night with a sense of accomplishment in my heart?  I spend an awful lot of time at work doing work stuff, so feeling like I’m spending my time well and not wasting it is something that’s important to me.  And when I talk about wasting time, I mean that the time I spend away from my wife and my children should be time that makes the world a better place.  What else should be so important that I am away from them for so many hours in each day?

Childish, idealistic, impossible goals.  At work, we say that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.  They are SMART goals!  And they guarantee a profitable, efficient, and highly effective organization.  Childish, idealistic, impossible goals would never EVER cut it at a Fortune 100 company.  There are far too many “I”s to dot and “T”s to cross.  The blue copies go to accounting, the pink copies to administration, the yellow copies to the copy place, and the white one gets faxed in with the TPS report.  Remember to use the new coversheet.

I’m down with childish, idealistic, and impossible.  Those the are goals my kids have.  They aspire to such as adventures as traveling to Antarctica, visiting every state in the United States, taking a boat ride down the Amazon River, and spending the night at a museum.  Somewhere along the way, there must be time for changing the world, one childish, idealistic, and impossible goal at a time.