In Breaking Busy, Alli Worthington, takes a look at how being "busy" is intoxicating, how we wear it like a badge of honour. The whole book has strong Christian overtones with much talk about forgetting about the approval of society and only looking for the approval of God. If the God talk is going to turn you off, then this isn't the book for you. God talk, especially in context of your God given abilities, often turns me off but there is still some decent if obvious advice provided.
Worthington tells us to focus on the work/activites that fill us, and not to worry so much about what the world around us thinks. Instead focus on your family and the life that you want to live, in her terms the life God wants all Christians to live.
There are also some overtones of hustle culture and the rhetoric that if you do something you love it's, not work. Overall, it's not a bad book, just an obvious one that delves into mysticism as a justification for actions.
- Busy is intoxicating. We live in a day and age when we seem to get high on being busy. In fact we wear the label like a badge of honor, a secret seal of approval, a validation and proof of our worthiness. If we’re not busy, constantly racing from one thing to the next, then we obviously must not be doing enough . . . right? ([Location 114](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=114))
- Note: Protestant Work Ethic at work in our lives.
## New highlights added January 14, 2024 at 4:43 PM
#### ONE CAPACITY Finding Your Sweet Spot in a World of Crazy Busy
- Crazy busy is a life without peace. It’s marked by decisions made for the approval of the world, not the approval of God. It’s filled with what we think we “should” do, what we think will make others happy, and what we think being a good person (or good girl) looks like. All this busyness, in the end, keeps us just out of reach of the life we were created to live. ([Location 209](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=209))
- Note: So is me asking Cynthia for intimacy adding to her crazy busy life?
- So how do we know when we are reaching our limits? We aren’t like our phones with flashing numbers that tell us we’ve reached our capacity. But there are signs our body gives us if we’re paying attention, signs that may look different for each of us. For some the warning signs may be emotional. For others they might be physical, relational, or spiritual. But rest assured, if you are over capacity, you will soon find out — the hard way. ([Location 267](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=267))
- Note: Is Cynthia’s over capacity response not wanting to be touched?
- Embracing the season of life we are in and the limitations that come with it helps us break busy and live life at a saner, more sustainable pace. ([Location 410](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=410))
- The fact that certain circumstances and certain people drain our capacity is important information. It lets us set proper limitations on what we do, when we do it, and with whom we do it. ([Location 423](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=423))
## New highlights added January 15, 2024 at 4:43 PM
#### TWO RELATIONSHIPS Finding Your Connection in a World of Acquaintances
- If we are going to start breaking busy, we start with focusing in on the relationships that fill our soul. Breaking busy means breaking the idea that keeping up with the Joneses will ever bring us any peace in this world. ([Location 537](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=537))
- Note: Relationships before stuff
- The very next week Mark received a call from a hospital outside Nashville. As he prepared to drive back to Nashville for the interview, I cried in relief. He cautioned me, “Babe, I don’t have the job yet. It’s just an interview. I’ve been on lots of interviews in the last few weeks. Don’t get your hopes so high yet.” There was no dampening my hopes though. I knew we were going home to Nashville, but I also knew our lives would be different. This time we would live a life given over to God — not in our strength, not in our wisdom, but relying on God and God alone. And that is exactly what happened. ([Location 568](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=568))
- Note: This is survivor bias at work. Of course anyone else that went through similar just didn’t believe as hard as you did so it’s really their fault. And you believed hard enough so you orchestrated your success, but let’s stick God in there.
- At the time I nodded blankly, trying to wrap my brain around the fact that, in a crowded restaurant, she just told me to have lots of sex (my Southern sensibilities were in shock)! But it was some of the best advice anyone ever gave me. ([Location 647](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=647))
- Note: The dual guilt of sex for Christian women. It’s bad and dirty before marriage but if you don’t have it lots with your husband after marriage you’re failing in your marriage.
## New highlights added January 24, 2024 at 9:30 AM
- I nursed my smallest guy, Jeremiah, on one knee and balanced that broken laptop on my other knee and worked my tail off every day. And as hard as that was, I realized I was no longer striving to find myself or my purpose. I was no longer busy doing things just to make a good impression on others or to make others happy. Instead, I was taking daily steps to build a business from the online magazine I created. I had broken the cycle of busy without purpose; I was now a woman on a mission. I think sometimes ([Location 794](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=794))
- Note: Here we see the hustle culture woman in her element. Yes in the David Attenborough voice. We are glorifying working while nursing to make it. This feels more like a cautionary tale about a society that has poor social safety nets so people have to work. Plus she couples it with Gods calling for a healthy does of Protestant work ethic.
- My grandfather used to say, “Find something you love doing, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” ([Location 837](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=837))
- Note: And everyone’s grandfather but really everything is a job at some point. Your hobby becoming your work means you need a new hobby.
- The Purpose Driven Life ([Location 903](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=903))
- Note: ;;book
- 4. If money were no object, what would you do for free? ([Location 950](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=950))
- Note: Ah all the hustle culture tropes to find your calling. Yes I also said stuff like this at one point.
#### FOUR EDITING Finding God’s Best in a World of Options
- Jennie Allen’s book Anything ([Location 1052](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1052))
- Note: ;;book
- The reality is, we didn’t choose where or to whom we were born. We didn’t choose what we would look like or what our talents or passions would be. It can be frustrating to realize that we don’t have as much control over our lives as we once thought. ([Location 1167](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1167))
- Note: Does she take this admission further to saying much of life is luck? Much of success is down to money and having many tries at success?
- A proactive edit is one we make in advance, before things get out of control. A reactive edit is one we make once a crisis hits. It’s a reaction to something gone wrong (typically) and most reactive edits are not good ones ([Location 1209](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1209))
- Note: What should you say no to before it becomes a problem?
## New highlights added January 25, 2024 at 6:59 AM
#### FIVE THOUGHTS Finding Your Peace in a World of Worry
- Sonja Lyubomirsky, ([Location 1452](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1452))
- Note: - [ ] find the book on happiness by this author
- The term emotional contagion means that our emotions are so contagious that emotions between people can actually converge. ([Location 1522](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1522))
- Note: See Contagion for more on the effects of emotional contagions
- SIX TRADITIONS Finding Your Groove in a World of Expectations ([Location 1565](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1565))
## New highlights added January 27, 2024 at 9:40 AM
- Sometimes our lives are full of busyness because traditions make us believe that is how it has to be done. You know, when you’ve always done something a certain way, it’s hard to break free from that — at least without feeling guilty that you aren’t doing it anymore. But just because we live in a world of seemingly endless expectations doesn’t mean we have to live up to them. ([Location 1655](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1655))
- Note: I feel this way about our crazy Christmas. I get sucked along because Cynthia likes it not because I want to be doing this stuff.
## New highlights added January 29, 2024 at 7:08 AM
- Expectations — sometimes put on us by others, and sometimes ones we put on ourselves — have to be managed well to break the cycle of busy in our lives. ([Location 1823](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1823))
- Note: Say no more
#### SEVEN TIME Finding Your Rhythm in a World of Overwhelm
- For years I tried to manage my time better by buying a new planner or new productivity app and meticulously planning my day. Unfortunately, “life by the calendar” always left me feeling a little tense and mildly guilty when I didn’t keep up with my intensely planned life. The real world had a way of derailing my calendar. New calls popped up during the day, kids got sick, workloads varied. ([Location 1863](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1863))
- Note: Because we always plan for our “best” day with no problems coming up.
## New highlights added January 30, 2024 at 6:45 AM
- tyranny of the urgent, ([Location 1886](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1886))
- Note: ;;tag
- The truth is that whether you are the manager of a home, CEO of a company, or a busy entrepreneur, your ability to be successful is equal to your physical and mental health and your ability to manage your time and energy. ([Location 1903](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1903))
- Note: But you didn’t say anything about the role of luck in your success.
- Around the time I started tracking my own time, ([Location 1905](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1905))
- Note: Time tracking is useful for figuring out what you’re really doing.
## New highlights added February 5, 2024 at 10:01 AM
- we will never get to the most important destinations in life without first envisioning them, then prioritizing and scheduling the activities that get us there. ([Location 1923](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1923))
- Note: And even then you must have the means and job autonomy to be able to realize your plans.
- Want a successful career? Perhaps you will prioritize a fulltime job and hire someone to clean the house or cook the meals. ([Location 1925](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1925))
- Note: Quite the assumption of wealth.
- Choose the momentary awkwardness of saying no (with love) and disappointing someone rather than saying yes and resenting it later. ([Location 1993](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1993))
- Note: This even goes for your kids and the extra things they want you to do.
#### EIGHT DECISIONS Finding Your Confidence in a World of Choices
- Like it or not, every single decision we make takes us down the road closer to the destination that is our future. ([Location 2129](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=2129))
- Note: Some people have less roads to choose to go down because of the life they were born into and the lack of social safety provided in many places on earth.
#### NINE COMMUNICATION Finding Your Voice in a World of Noise
## New highlights added February 6, 2024 at 7:29 AM
- When you know what your goals and priorities are (in both the short and long run), you can decide if a certain activity will get you closer or farther away from that goal. Make sure you spend time doing things that get you closer to your goals. ([Location 1929](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1929))
- Let your life be about what you are meant to do, not full of what you think you should do. This starts with your daily decisions about how you spend your time. ([Location 1955](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=1955))
- Note: This assumes autonomy with your job and time which is only true of richer people working higher paying jobs.
## New highlights added February 13, 2024 at 4:26 PM
#### TEN WORTH Finding Your Value in a World of Never Good Enough
- Action Steps ([Location 2775](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UF72DDK&location=2775))
- Note: A bunch of stuff about not having shame because it’s from the devil and your from God. The ironic part is how much of church is about shame.
