Busy Is The New Broke

You know what's funny? We've turned exhaustion into a flex.

"I'm so busy" - we say it the way our grandparents used to say "I'm doing well." It's our default response, our social currency, our proof of worth. Like we're afraid if we stop moving, someone might notice we're standing still.

But here's the thing... busy is just broke with a better marketing team.

Think about it.

When you're financially broke, you can't afford what you need. When you're busy-broke, you can't afford your own life.

Can't afford a Tuesday afternoon walk.

Can't afford an unscheduled Saturday.

Can't afford to sit with your own thoughts without anxiety creeping in like an unwelcome houseguest.

I've watched this play out - people sprinting through their days like they're training for some race that doesn't actually have a finish line. Meetings stacked like Tetris blocks. Calendar looking like a hostage situation. And somewhere in all that motion, they misplaced themselves.

The hustle culture sold us a lie wrapped in motivation quotes.

It told us busy equals important. That if you're not grinding, you're not growing. That rest is for the weak and weekends are for the weak-willed.

But productivity without purpose? That's just expensive fidgeting.

Here's what I've learned - and I learned it the hard way, like most worthwhile things... The richest people I know aren't the ones with the fullest calendars. They're the ones with the most white space. They're the ones who can say no without guilt, who protect their attention like it's gold - because it is.

Your attention is your life, measured out in moments. And every time you say yes to something that doesn't matter, you're saying no to something that does.

See, being broke-broke, you know exactly what you can't afford. You check your bank balance. You make hard choices. But being busy-broke? It creeps up on you. One day you wake up and realize you haven't had a real conversation with your partner in weeks.

Or you can't remember the last time you did something just because it felt good, not because it moved some needle forward.

The antidote isn't doing nothing - it's doing what matters. First principles, yeah? Strip away the noise. Ask yourself: if my time was money, would I be spending it like this?

So maybe... just maybe... the real flex isn't how packed your schedule is.

It's how much space you've created to actually live in it.