Back in my days of having a ‘job’, my frequent response to the question “How are you?” was “I’m so busy”. Thinking back to those days, I even used to write that in emails to friends, as if being busy was my news and something to be proud of. What was that all about?
In the months before we left for Japan I was seriously busy. I mean properly get-up-early, sit-at-my-desk-for-14-16-hours-straight and go-to-bed-with-my-head-still-buzzing busy. But I was BUILDING something with that temporary busyness. It meant I couldn’t respond to people as quickly, or take on as many new projects, or meet up with friends as much as I would have liked. By then I wasn’t proud of being busy, but it had a deadline – a plane ticket with my name on it.
Here in Japan, it took a few weeks to decompress after all the craziness but I have now come to a very different kind of motion. I am still moving forward, but the pace is different, the view is different and guess what? The results are different… I no longer say “I’m busy” with glee anymore (although I have plenty going on). I no longer pack to-do-things into every corner of my day (although I do still have a list, because I am a list-liking sort of person). I no longer start my day at my laptop, but rather at the window with a cup of tea and the latest novel I have downloaded to my treasured Kindle.
And I want it to stay this way.
Over the next few months you will see a few changes around here to support that. The team is growing, the company is evolving and the work is getting more focused and fulfilling than ever. I will just have to keep reminding myself, when I get back to England and am surrounded by people proudly wearing their ‘busy’ badges, that actually this slower, more meaningful motion, is actually going to get me to where I want to go faster, and in a more enjoyable way…
