'Too busy' or 'don't have time' to do something

Reading time: 1 min

Following the same philosophy of using a particular set of vocabulary to define my mindset, I avoid saying "I'm too busy" to do something" or "don't have time". I think that's a poor mindset to hold. Rather, I'd say "I chose to do something else".

I find this to be generally true for many situations: It's not that I'm in a situation that makes it truly impossible to do or attend something. I can go, as long as I sacrifice the time I could have spent on something else. Rather, I am unwilling to sacrifice that something else. It happens to be more important or urgent for me, at that particular time point in my life.

I reckon this way of framing 'busyness' can help reinforce that we're in control and that we are doing things with intention, rather than letting life crash down on us and flooding us down its unknown path.

The title certainly holds true in this sense (~10% of my time is unproductive consuming time), too.