Rob Bell’s newest NOOMA video, Shells, is being streamed on the NOOMA facebook page until Wednesday at 12 p.m. EST. I watched it last night, and it’s great.
In this one, Rob tackles the idea of “busyness”, calling it a drug that many in our culture are hooked on. I think he’s right. Think about it, what’s the first thing we all say when people ask about ‘how things are going’? They’re busy. Things are crazy. Oh man, I’ve got so much going on. I’ve thought about this quite a bit, and have become frustrated with our cultural obsession with the appearance of busyness (one that, despite my disdain for it, I share). Hearing people talk about how busy they are is a lot like hearing people talk about when they had their wisdom teeth pulled. Everyone’s got a story, and everyone’s story is more gruesome than the previous one. And none of us really care about anyone’s story but our own.
What Rob suggests is that we are too ‘busy’ not because we don’t know how to say ‘no’ to things in our lives, but rather we don’t know how to say ‘yes’. He’s right. Really, he is. The problem isn’t that we’ve all got too much on our plate. Our problem is that we all too often lack the singular vision and focus necessary to pursue things of great meaning. For that reason we end up distracting ourselves with things that will ultimately leave us hallow. He tells a great story to illustrate that point. So then the solution to our busyness isn’t disengagement, but is rather a vision and a focus that compels us to focus on things that matter. Good stuff.
3 Comments
May 20, 2008 at 10:04 am
I just finished watching “Shells.” Great as usual.
Of course I did watch it on company time, which made me feel at least a little conflicted about my own time management.
May 29, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Receptacle says : I absolutely agree with this !
June 18, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Monitor.