Busy Work and Life Goals - Friends or Enemies?

As a current junior in high school, I often feel overwhelmed with all the work that is given to me. In addition to schoolwork and homework, I have to study for standardized tests, participate in extracurricular activities, and be on top of college admissions.

For me, these types of work fit in the category of 'busy work'. If you are an adult, 'busy work' might include working your 9 to 5, paying the bills, doing housework, etc. Since I will use the term in this article quite a bit, I want to share the definition/explanation of 'busy work' I used to have in mind.

1. Work that will not necessarily make me happy (e.g. completing homework, studying for standardized tests, working a job)

2. Work that is necessary for you to put in effort in order to live a decent quality of life in which you don’t have to constantly worry too much about different important things in your lifestyle (e.g. your house, car, electricity, WIFI, utilities)

Most of these 'busy work' don’t make me happy. Some aspects of it seem pretty much useless in my life and I honestly sometimes think the point of all my hard work is just to ultimately receive a number like “3.75” on a piece of paper.

On the other hand, I have life goals I want to accomplish in my life. These include training and running a full marathon, learning French to move to Europe, becoming quite good at playing the clarinet, and many more.

I always believed that 'busy work' was hindering me from achieving my personal goals. I often feared being bombarded with all the 'busy work' and not being able to make progress on the things I genuinely want to improve on. Even though some people tried to convince me to suffer now so that I could be happier later, I didn’t quite agree with their idea. “When school is over, I will have to start working and I will never get over doing all the ‘busy work’. I have to either choose ‘busy work’ or my personal goals,” I always thought.

How am I going to deal with 'busy work' hindering my own goals? How should I deal with the stress of not being able to make progress on my personal goals?

One day I asked these questions to my father. We had an interesting conversation which changed my perspective of 'busy work' quite a bit. Since this information could be useful for you to keep in mind as well, I wanted to share his advice and my takeaways from the conversation.

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The connection between 'busy work' and life goals

Right after I asked why should I even put in effort into 'busy work', my father answered,

“These types of work help don’t really hinder your dreams. In fact, they help you pursue whatever else you want to pursue.”

At first, I was very confused with his answer since I had a clear separation in my head: 'busy work' = unhappy and 'personal goals' = happy. But in fact, working on 'busy work' and working on life goals are closely related to each other. Let me explain with a couple of examples.

The washing machine (wait, what!?)

OK, this example was a surprise for me as well. But it will all make sense so hear me out.

Since the washing machine was invented in 1767, it has been constantly improved and helped people clean their clothes. Before washing machines were invented, people used to wash their clothes by hand, usually one-by-one. But now that electric washing machines exist, people can do the same work more effectively.

This means washing machines contributed to people saving time and energy. By being able to afford an electric washing machine, we get to do something else we want to do instead of scrubbing clothes with our hands.

I guess it is safe to say that most people in North America are fortunate enough to be able to afford washing machines, water, and electricity in their house. You might be thinking that the bar is too low if I am comparing those who have washing machines (majority) and those who don’t (minority).

Let’s raise the bars then. Consider transportation. Many Americans spend quite a bit of time commuting to work, and the process could often be stressful. Why don’t they move closer to their office then? Well, urban areas where many jobs congregate usually cost more to live in.

You might notice how people who can afford to live in urban areas are more likely to spend less time commuting and would likely have more energy when they come home. This allows them to interact with their families, spend time on hobbies, etc.

The point I want to make here is that working hard in school/job = more money = can afford to make your life easier = more time and energy for personal goals.

Let’s move on to a more directly related example.

A construction worker vs Jeff Bezos (comparing jobs)

(Before I get into this paragraph, I want to mention that I have nothing against construction workers. I believe they play a crucial role in our society and they are arguably one of the most important jobs out there. I am just taking a very objective perspective in the article.)

After the washing machine example, my father started comparing two extreme examples on the job spectrum in terms of earnings: a construction worker and Jeff Bezos.

To earn an adequate amount of money as a construction worker, the person probably has to work extremely long hours, not allowing the person to spend much time doing other things they want to do. Sure, they probably have a washing machine in their house. But assuming the construction is taking place in a city (where many construction work usually take place), the worker probably cannot afford living near where he works, forcing him to spend time to get to work. In addition to this, the time spent working might prevent the person to spend time with others, party, receive information and opportunities, etc.

Now let’s examine the successful businessman on the opposite end of the earning spectrum, Jeff Bezos. Even though Bezos definitely works, he probably doesn’t need to do many tasks that he doesn’t find interesting. These tasks might include shipping products, responding to emails, and taking care of expenses. This is because he is earning more than enough to sustain himself even without doing these tasks. In addition, he can possibly delegate a task he doesn’t want to do to his subordinates because he has achieved the influence and power to do so. Moreover, he has a good interpersonal network and he knows who can do the job and help him make a profit.

From the two examples, you can see that Jeff Bezos is not only more financially successful than a construction worker, but he more likely has more influence and a better interpersonal network. All these factors play a role to determine whether you will be able to achieve your life goals or not.

My father finally explained that if I wanted to have opportunities such as time, energy, and relationships to achieve your life goals, I need to sustain my fundamental lifestyle first. This is done through gaining a useful and profitable skill, whether that be entrepreneurship skills (what Jeff Bezos had), engineering skills, management skills, or writing skills.

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My takeaways

The most important takeaway from my conversation with my father is the fact that I got to add a third explanation to my idea of 'busy work'.

3. Work that sustains your fundamental needs in order for you to pursue whatever else you want to pursue in life. ‘Busy work’ and life goals are ‘friends’ and are closely related to each other.

But I still think being too drowned in 'busy work' is still a pitfall for many. If you are making progress in achieving your dream through 'busy work', you might want to put extra effort into doing 'busy work'. For example, when I asked my father what his dreams were he told me that he wanted to make sure I complete my education and make sure he earns enough money for retirement. These are more ‘busy work’-oriented goals, but I think they are legitimate goals someone can have. But if your personal life goals are something different from what you do in your 'busy work', I think it is crucial to always keep your personal goals in mind. If you don’t have a goal in mind, I believe that you are not rewarding yourself enough for all the effort you put into your 'busy work'.

My final thoughts on the idea of ‘suffer now and you will be happy later’: it is mostly true. You should always keep your life goals in mind, but putting in effort into the ‘busy work’ will definitely improve your future. As a junior in high school, I always assumed that “suffering” will always happen in the time period of studying extremely hard to get into a good university and then getting a good job. But I believe that suffering and being happy is an ongoing life-long process. If you put in the effort and suffer, the more likely you will be happier in the near future, and the cycle continues.

I think my father’s idea of ‘busy work’ is interesting to know for both students and parents. As a student, I often hear my parents pushing me to do well in school, get into a good university, and land a well-paying job. I often feel this pressure from my relatives and peers as well. Living in a society that pressures students to succeed in this traditional manner might cause teenagers to wonder why they should put in hard work if the process doesn’t make them happy in life. I often felt the same way and asked my parents and peers why I should put in the hard work if it doesn't make me happy and if I have other things in life that more directly connects to my happiness. The usual answer was that because I could ‘earn more money and live a decent life’. However, I wasn’t satisfied with that answer because I believed that there was more I could achieve in life to increase my happiness. But talking to my father made me realize that the hard work you put into things that provide you the fundamentals of life enables me to pursue happiness. I think parents telling this this to their children will likely increase their motivation to do things they don't necessarily like.

This was an unexpected bonus, but I got to learn a little more about sharing ideas with others and reaching a conclusion. I have recently discovered that I am an INFP Myers-Briggs personality type. This might be contributing to my highly idealistic values which could sometimes be unrealistic. For instance, giving up on all the ‘bust work’ and just pursuing other things in life is not a practical way to live in this society. I think this is where I benefitted by talking to my father who had a more realistic perspective. Through having a conversation with him, we were able to exchange ideas and I was able to reach a conclusion and reorganize my thoughts.

Ultimately, I think it was extremely helpful for me to change my perspective on ‘busy work' especially since I still have a long way to go in life. If you were stressed with all the ‘busy work’ you had to do, I hope this article gave you some motivation to keep going forward with a positive attitude.