I have often wondered why it is that some people seem to get a lot of significant shit done, while others hardly seem to get anything done at all. For instance, some write books, go into outer space, and compose complete symphonies. I have also often wondered why it is that quite often there is little or no correlation between what they get done and how busy these remarkable people claim to be.

I can off the top of my head think of a dozen-or-so-people who make it a point of always telling me how busy they are – but I don’t see much evidence of this. This could be because they are spending the bulk of their time talking about how busy they are. This, of course, is time

that could be better spent doing great things, like painting, writing, or composing.

Some use being busy as an excuse, say, for avoiding something like getting together and doing something. For example, a local writer who made good said that she was too busy to give me feedback on a book proposal that I was then working on. Now she might very well have been super busy. But I suspect that if there had been something in talking with me for her that she would have come through. Amazingly, a handful of people who were more busy than she did find time to give me useful feedback.

Being busy; it must be all about prioritizing. We do what we want to do, or what we think needs to be done. We don’t do what we don’t want to do, and avoid doing what we think needs to be done. This is human nature.

I have to admit that I’m this way at times. I often tell people I’m busy when it appears as though they want me to do something I don’t want to do. Political stuff, mostly. I have strong political convictions, and I vote, but I absolutely hate phone banking. I go to talk to people and I break out into a sweat and a huge lump forms in my throat. I feel like Donald Duck on steroids. For me, hell would be having a phone list a mile long, and my having to cold call these people. Too busy to make phone calls? You betcha.

So a few nights ago we went to a political fundraiser, and yes, the prospect of helping out a candidate was in the air. I did not say that I am too busy. Rather, I said I might give a hand. But I most likely won’t. Yes, this makes me a bad human being, for sure.

I often think about my days, and what I’m doing that I appear to be so busy. Taking care of animals is a high priority, as is writing. I avoid cell phones, and don’t socialize a great deal. It’s quite odd – but if I did decide to do something like work for a political candidate, the animals would still be well cared for, and the writing would still get done.

I’m being more honest here than I ought to be. It took me two days to write this dispatch. I wrote a paper draft, and set it aside, figured that I would not write it up. But rules are rules. I don’t set handwritten dispatches aside. I’m too busy to do otherwise.

Next: 260: 12/11/13: Horses #1, 2, and 3 – the Ongoing Story