Being Busy is Bullshit: Why Productivity is a Terrible Waste of Time

The Illusion of Productivity

If you died tomorrow, would you want your eulogy to say, “They were really busy”?

Of course not.

And yet, so many of us live like that’s the goal—like the person who crams the most into their schedule wins some invisible prize. We glorify busyness. Wear it like a badge of honor. Someone asks how we’re doing? “Oh, you know, busy.” As if that means we’re doing something right.

But can I be honest with you? Being busy isn’t the same as being fulfilled. And deep down, I think you already know that.

You don’t need to prove yourself by doing more. You don’t need to be in a constant state of motion to be worthy. You don’t need to fill every moment just to convince yourself that you’re keeping up.

The truth? If you’re not careful, busyness becomes a distraction—a way to keep yourself too occupied to ask the real questions:

Am I actually enjoying my life?
Do I even care about the things I’m spending all my time on?
If I stopped being so busy… what would be left?

I’m not saying it’s easy to slow down. But I am saying that if you don’t, you might look back one day and realize you never really lived.

What I Learned from People at the End of Their Lives

In my early twenties, fresh out of school, I worked as a hospice social worker. It was an unusual position to be in—so young, sitting with people who were at the very end of their lives. And because of that, something interesting happened: they wanted to pass their wisdom on to me.

One of the greatest gifts of spending time with the dying is the honesty. There’s no more posturing, no more pretending. Just real, raw truth. And an eagerness to share what they’ve learned—what really mattered, what didn’t, and what they wish someone had told them sooner.

Some people—especially those who had spent their lives chasing busyness—realized too late that they had missed the point. They had worked hard, stayed productive, done all the “right” things… and yet, in those final moments, none of it seemed to matter.

“I wish I had been more present.”
“I wish I had spent more time with the people I love.”
“I wish I had stopped worrying so much about what I was supposed to be doing.”

It was heartbreaking to witness—not just because of the regret, but because they had been trying. They weren’t careless with their time. They weren’t lazy. They had spent years, sometimes entire lifetimes, believing they were doing what they should—working hard, staying productive, keeping up. They had convinced themselves that one day, all of that effort would pay off and they’d finally feel the fulfillment they were chasing.

But that day never came. They had spent their whole lives preparing to live, but never actually let themselves do it.

And yet, even in this situation, something incredible would often happen: many of them still found peace—right there, at the very end.

In their last days, they let go of all the noise. They laughed more. They spoke more freely. They forgave themselves. They spent those last moments fully alive, proving one of the most powerful lessons they passed on to me:

It’s never too late. The best time to start living fully was yesterday. The second-best time is now.

And then there were the others—the ones who had already figured this out long before the end. Some of them met death not just with peace, but with joy. They weren’t just accepting of it—they were consoling their loved ones through their anticipatory grief, reminding them that they had lived exactly the way they wanted.

They weren’t necessarily the ones who had accomplished the most. They weren’t the busiest, the most productive, or the most outwardly successful. But they had spent their time well.

They had slowed down enough to actually live their lives instead of just filling them. They had worked, yes, but they had also rested. They had pursued things not because they were expected to, but because they wanted to. They had made time for laughter, love, and the little things that make life beautiful.

And that’s the difference between a busy life and a full life.

Busy-ness vs. Fullness: What Are You Actually Building?

Busyness is a cheap substitute for meaning.

It’s the belief that if you just do more, you’ll be more. That productivity equals worth. That if you’re constantly moving, you must be going somewhere important. But the truth?

Busyness is often a smokescreen. A way to avoid discomfort. A way to feel like we’re making progress—even if we’re just running in circles.

A full life, on the other hand, isn’t about how much you do—it’s about what you choose to do. It’s about the things that actually matter to you.

Think about it:

• Do you want to fill your time just for the sake of filling it?

• Or do you want to spend your time well—on the things that bring depth, meaning, and joy?

The Fear That Keeps You Addicted to Busyness

Busyness often masks a deeper fear: the fear of stillness.

Because when you stop being busy, you’re left with yourself. Your thoughts. Your feelings. The big questions. And that can be terrifying.

So instead, you pile on more work. More commitments. More obligations. You convince yourself that you have to do it all, that you can’t slow down. But in reality, nothing bad happens when you stop running. The world doesn’t end. You just have to sit with yourself—which, ironically, is the very thing that will actually bring clarity and direction.

Breaking Free from the Busyness Trap

So how do you stop being busy and start living fully?

1. Question the Belief That More = Better

Who told you that doing more makes you a better person? That if you’re not constantly hustling, you’re falling behind? Challenge that belief. Ask yourself: Is this actually true?

2. Prioritize What Actually Matters

Busyness thrives on the lie that everything is equally important. But it’s not. Some things matter deeply. Some things really don’t. Be brutally honest about where your time is going. Are you spending it on things that truly move your life forward?

3. Create Space for Stillness

Slowing down doesn’t mean doing nothing—it means making room. Room for rest. Room for thinking. Room for deep, meaningful work instead of endless tasks that lead nowhere.

4. Get Comfortable with Doing Less (Try This Experiment)

The hardest part of quitting busyness is the fear that you’re not doing enough. But the irony? You’ll accomplish more—more of what truly matters—when you stop scattering your energy across a million meaningless tasks.

So let’s run an experiment.

Pick one day this week and make a rule: No tasks for the sake of busyness.

That means:

• No checking your email just because it’s there.

• No doing extra work just to feel productive.

• No mindless busywork to fill the gaps in your day.

Instead, use that time intentionally. Do something that actually fills you—something that brings joy, rest, or connection.

Live Fully, Not Just Busily

At the end of your life, you won’t care how many emails you answered or how many meetings you attended.

You’ll care about the moments that mattered. The work that meant something. The people you loved.

So stop glorifying busyness. Start prioritizing fullness.

Because if you spend your life being busy, you won’t have spent it living.