Choosing Focus and Purpose Over The Illusion of Busyness

Have you ever wondered if being "busy" is just an overused excuse that shields us from meaningful commitments? Join me, Mr. Yu, as I attempt to unravel the myths behind our hectic lifestyles, revealing how distractions cleverly disguise themselves as busyness. We take a hard look at our priorities—faith, family, personal growth—and challenge the notion that constant activity equates to productivity. Through personal anecdotes and insights from past podcast episodes, I invite listeners to reassess what truly matters in their lives by distinguishing between genuine responsibilities and the deceptive distractions that often command our time. This idea of busyness needs desperately to be de-mystified and seen for what it really is. 

As we venture further, the episode draws inspiration from the wisdom of Proverbs and the narrative of Mary and Martha, presenting a compelling case for clarity and focus in an age of distraction. Imagine life as a shopping mall, teeming with alluring diversions that can easily sidetrack us from our goals. By reflecting on Sun Tzu's timeless lessons from "The Art of War," we explore how to navigate these distractions like a seasoned strategist. Join me in this episode as we master the art of staying centered, learning to prioritize inner growth over superficial concerns, and setting purposeful goals that guide us through the chaos.

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Chapters

• 0:29 The Emancipation of Busy
• 15:17 Finding Purpose Amid Distractions
• 24:09 The Art of Avoiding Distractions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:29

Thank you so welcome back to the all-purpose Pod for an all-purpose life. Wherever you are and however you're listening today, call me Mr U the podcast. Thank you again for making this a part of your week. We are very excited to be back with you, as always, anytime we get a chance to do this, by the grace of God, we're excited about what we get a chance to share and to hear from our listeners out here, who are not only all across the country but even all across the world. So we're growing and we're really excited about that.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Of course, if you know me, I'm not satisfied with the pace that we're setting, but I don't despise small beginnings. I love what's happening. I love how we're growing organically and how we're growing our audience. You guys are a really big part of what we're doing, so very grateful for you guys. If you're listening audio-wise only audio only Apple Podcasts is definitely the place to be. You can follow and subscribe to our show there and download all the episodes from the past four plus seasons. If you're watching us, more likely it's going to be from our YouTube channel at TheyCallMeMrU or, of course, simulcast on all of our social media platforms, everything from Facebook to Instagram, tiktok, twitter or X, and I think I might have covered it all. But of course you can hear us also on Amazon Music, pandora, iheartradio and Spotify as well. But thanks again for listening to our show, for supporting me, my family and this mission. I believe it's worth it. There's a lot of junk out here on social media and in the podcast world. I hope that this doesn't qualify as that and you find value in what we're talking about today.

Speaker 1: 2:28

I want to spend a little time with you guys just to kind of share some things that are on my heart. As usual, the one thing that I think I want to try to help with is the idea of being busy. Now. There was an episode. I believe it was in our second season of the show, maybe the third. It didn't even be the first, I'm not totally sure. We've done hundreds of episodes so I'm not totally sure.

Speaker 1: 2:48

Forgive me, but it's called the Emancipation of Busy is the name of the title. You can find this, of course, apple Podcasts, spotify. I have you search for our audio podcast to listen to, but the Emancipation of Busy. It's not a video podcast. You can't watch it. You have to listen to it. It's not on YouTube, but it's called the emancipation of busy, and I kind of try to dispel some of the myths about being busy, because we use that word a lot in our vernacular.

Speaker 1: 3:17

When somebody wants us to do something that we don't want to do, we say we're busy. If somebody wants us to do something that we do want to do but we don't have the time because we have so many irons on the fire, we respond with I'm busy, sorry, I can't make it. Or we just use it in our regular back how are you doing? Good to see you. What's been going on? Oh, I'm busy.

Speaker 1: 3:38

We use that word a lot, but what does it actually mean? And what are we saying to people when we say we're busy? Are we implying that we're busier than the person that we're talking to and we don't have time for them? But what they're asking? What are we actually saying when we say that we're busy? The word busy is described as being occupied with or concentrated on a particular activity or object of attention. It does have a connotation of stressing activity over leisure, over relaxing, an excessive attention to detail, even an over embellishment of something that could be that doesn't require one. So being busy means a lot of different things there. But I think for the most part you understand what that means and you probably use the vernacular as many times as I have. What does that actually mean? Does it mean this is a good thing? Is it a good thing to be so busy, as busy as we are, allowing others to believe that we are? Some people are not busy at all, but they're too busy for the person that's making the request to them, that's asking them for aid, assistance, support or any semblance of their personal time. That's just them for aid, assistance, support or any simplest of their personal time. That's just a true statement. We can evaluate that for ourselves where we are with that.

Speaker 1: 5:14

But there's one thing I love about this because in talking about being busy and breaking this down, I had to look at me and every episode we've ever done for the past four plus seasons I evaluated myself. Before I even got on this live medium to share anything with you. Excuse me, I've dealt with me first and I realized that a lot of the busy business that I personally have experienced where I say I'm busy and the past six months have been life changing for me and my household. We've learned so many things. We've kind of grown up in some areas, gaining some divine wisdom about some stuff, and what I'm realizing is that a lot of the things that I categorize as being busy are because of distractions. How many of you can agree with that, that a lot of the things that you say you're busy doing only serve to be distractions?

Speaker 1: 6:03

I ask you this because and we talk about this on multiple episodes, probably in the future episodes what's the priority in your life? How do you have things arranged? Where is God in your priority list? Where's your family? Where's your faith? Where's your personal need for personal growth and development? Where do you have things qualified? Where is your work? Where is your leisure, what you enjoy doing on your off time, on off-peak hours? Where do you have things categorized? The answer to that question is going to be pivotal to finding out, or discovering if you're actually busy because you have responsibilities that are necessary, that are emergency or essential, or if you're being busy with things that you probably shouldn't be doing in the first place. Perhaps they are things that somebody placed on you, that you wanted to try to please them by doing it. Yeah, I'm not quite sure which one it is, but those are the kind of things that, I think, is key for us to be thinking about, and we don't always do that, so this is an opportunity for that, but the distraction is a big part of some of the busyness that we claim we have.

Speaker 1: 7:26

From a personal standpoint, when I step back and look at this exercise, that someone who was in a position to offer me some mentorship gave me some advice on this. They said write down all the things that you're doing, all the areas you're responsible for, all the things you do in a regular day. Let me tell you something that's a mammoth task. It reveals some things about you. Trust me, if you're open to the exercise, take that into consideration. Do that after the episode is done. Write down all the things that you do. I don't care if it's once a month, once a week, five days a week, seven days a week, once a year, once every six months, year, once every six months, whatever the denomination is. Write down everything that you, whatever your name is, whatever you are personally responsible for, that you do on a regular or consistent basis, even semi-consistent.

Speaker 1: 8:22

When I did that, that list was so long couldn't believe it. I'm like I'm doing all of this stuff. No wonder I'm at the end of the day I'm spent at the end of the day. No wonder I don't have any bandwidth or capacity for anybody else. I'm doing all this stuff, I'm like, and then that's the easy. That's not even the easy part, cause you write all that stuff out.

Speaker 1: 8:39

The hard part of then looking at why are you doing this? So asking some little serious questions, some self-evaluation questions why are you even doing this stuff? How much of it is God ordained? How much of it is what you want to do so you can feel good about you? How much of it is something that somebody put on you that you feel obligated to do because you don't want to hurt nobody's feelings and you don't want to say no to them? How much of this is really about you driving the purpose that you're here for, driving the dream that you have that you put on the shelf? How much of those things excuse me, in that list, help feed those areas. When you look at it that way, wow, boom, mind blown. Everything changes dramatically when you do that.

Speaker 1: 9:25

So try to exercise that. Write out everything that you do that you're responsible for, whether it's semi-frequent or frequent, consistently. Write it all out and then evaluate it. Why are you doing this? Why is this important? Who told you you're supposed to be doing this? When you ask those kinds of questions, you will learn a whole lot of things and I'd be happy to help you out. I'm not trying to serve as your mentor in this case, just offering some helpful advice. Let me know if I can help offline. I'd be happy to even be happy to recap and share what I actually did and how it looked and how it turned out and what I discovered. Maybe it might help you out with on your journey to discovery.

Speaker 1: 10:05

You can say but distraction plays a really big part in that, and I think that there's some scriptures that kind of kind of highlight why business by itself isn't good enough. It has to be purpose behind it, it has to be value behind it, and not just say I'm busy, because I know a lot of people and maybe you do too they live their whole lives and they're busy, but at the end of the day, they got nothing to show for it. They're just tired, they're just worn down, they're just worn out and broken down and beaten. They don't have anything to show for it, but they've been working all this time. I know people that worked two or three jobs, they had nothing to give. I know people that have one job and they had nothing to give. I know people who are unemployed and have nothing to give. They're just busy.

Speaker 1: 10:55

And the question is what's the content or the value of your busyness? To what end are you busy? What goal do you have that makes you so busy? Are you able to achieve it? Go in this route. Do you require people to help you, other human resources, perhaps Other financial resources, to help you? What would it take for you to be freed up and have the time and the capacity and the bandwidth to serve other people, to help build other people up, to be productive in your time in life, when your family gets the time they need and you get the time that you need as a person? We all go through hard stuff and we need time to get rebuilt and to get strengthened and we often can't do that because we're going, going, going nonstop and never have a chance to come up for air. What is the goal in all your busyness?

Speaker 1: 12:29

Check out Luke, the ninth chapter, verse 59 to 62, out of the Passion Translation. I'm going to read it to you right now. It says Jesus then turned to another and said come be my disciple. He replied someday I will, lord. But he said someday I will, but allow me first to fulfill my duty as a good son and wait until my father passes away. Jesus told him don't wait for your father's burial. Let those who are already dead Wow. Let those who are already dead, wow. Let those who are already dead wait for death. As for you, go and proclaim everywhere that God's kingdom has arrived. So another said to him Lord, I want to follow you too, but first let me go home and say goodbye to my entire family. Jesus responded why do you keep looking back to your past and have second thoughts about following me? If you turn back, you will not fit for God's kingdom. That's Luke 9, the 59th to 62nd verse out of the passing translation.

Speaker 1: 13:28

Why did I share that? I shared it because there's so many things that are distraction from the purpose that we're supposed to be walking in Now the idea of purpose and the information you get on your journey to purpose. Of course, it's a lifelong journey. I'm still on it, many of you are still on it, all of you are really on it, and we don't always get the answers in the time frame that we would like to have the answers in, but it's a journey and we walk it out. Get the answers in the time frame that we would like to have the answers in, but it's a journey and we walk it out on a daily basis. We walk it out, but there's so many distractions around us. It's so easy to be distracted by the things that we think are important, the things that we think are valuable, the things that we think are valuable and require our time and attention. But are they? I'm asking a lot of questions today.

Speaker 1: 14:20

This episode is really about asking you questions. Is it really what you're doing right now? Is it really important? Does it really matter, not only in the now, but even in the eternal, down the line, in the future, after you're not here anymore? Does it still matter If you stop doing it today? Would it change the world negatively or positively? If you stop doing all that you were doing? Who would it impact? Who would it help? Who would it hurt? Excuse me, these are the kind of questions that we have to ask and a lot of times we don't do that. I know I wasn't doing it for a long period of time. I'm in that space now where I'm doing it, but still doesn't make it any easier. But it's that much more important though, because now I'm trying to figure out OK, where am I and where should I be? We're talking about positional emplacement and purpose, and where should I be? We're talking about positional emplacement and purpose, the three Ps, if you will.

Speaker 1: 15:17

Proverbs 4, 25 to 27 says keep your eyes straight ahead, ignore all the sideshow distractions. Do that word again Watch your step and the road will stretch out smooth before you Look neither right nor left. Leave evil in the dust. Proverbs 4, 25 to 27. Keep your eyes straight ahead, avoid the distractions.

Speaker 1: 15:38

It is so hard in so many ways and seasons in our life to keep our eyes focused on whatever the goal is supposed to be. It's even harder when you don't even have a goal. I mean, what's the point of trying to go to somebody's house without the address? Right, you need it so you can navigate. If you don't have the address, where are you going? You're riding around, burning up gas aimlessly. When you have an address, when you have a goal to get to, it makes it so much easier. So, even if a detour pops up, if there's road work that takes place and sidetracks you the construction, but you can still get to go safely because you have an address in your navigation system.

Speaker 1: 16:27

Excuse me, you know where you're going and my question to you is do you know where you're headed? Do you have a plan in mind? Do you have a purpose for why you're doing all you're doing? All you're doing? Some people might say I'm doing it to feed my family. That's not anything to be sad about or regretful about. That's a good thing. But is that the goal? Is that the ultimate goal for all that you do and why you do that? When your family grows to the point where they're out of the house, are you still going to keep doing what you're doing? It's just a requirement for your lifestyle. You need to be able to live and have a roof over your head. Those are goals. But beside that, what's your goal? What's your purpose? Why are you doing that?

Speaker 1: 17:13

We weren't born just to work hard and die. I know that a lot of generations have heard that and learned that somewhere, but it's incorrect. It's not factual. You weren't born just to live and work for 60 years, especially in this economy, and die. Your purpose is greater than your job assignment. Your employer can cut you and replace you before you even get home. And replace you before you even get home. What's your purpose? Why are you here?

Speaker 1: 17:43

Check out this passage in Luke, chapter 10, verse 38 to 42. It's probably one of the best context for being busy and being distracted. I love this. It's out of the passing translation as well Luke 10, 38 to 42. I've shared this on a couple of episodes in the past, but I want to share it again today. I think it's relevant.

Speaker 1: 18:03

It says as Jesus and the disciples continued on their journey, they came to a village where a woman welcomed Jesus into her home. Her name was Martha and she had a sister named Mary. Mary sat down attentively before the Master, absorbing every relation that Jesus shared, but Martha became exasperated with finishing the numerous household chores in preparation for her guests. So she ended up to Jesus and said Lord, don't you think it's unfair that my sister let me do all the work by myself? You should tell her to get up and help me. The Lord answered her Martha, my beloved Martha, why are you upset and troubled, pulled away by all these many distractions?

Speaker 1: 18:51

Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at my feet. She is undistracted and I won't take this privilege from her. Oh my goodness. Okay, so there's so much there. I doubt we're going to have the time to get into a lot of this. I'm going to try to be brief, but I'll do the best I can. Don't hold me to it, but I'll do my best. There's so many parts in here that just amaze me. Now.

Speaker 1: 19:17

Mary and Martha both expected the. That just amazed me. Now. Mary and Martha both expected the arrival of a very important person, a VIP, if you will, a dignitary if you will, a king and a priest and a savior all in one. Mary's response was I need to be close to him, I need to hear what he has to say, I need to glean from his wisdom. He had the answer for what's going on in my life. Remember what I asked you before about what the purpose is and why you're doing what you're doing. A lot of us don't have the purpose down pat yet. We don't have an understanding of what that is. So we're just doing things to fill gaps, to fill spaces. We don't realize that we are in control of the blessings that happen to us. We're not in control of how our life shifts and changes to fit the greater picture of our life. We don't have control of that, no matter how much we try, it's not in our hands. It's in the hands of someone else, and Mary recognized that immediately and clinged to that someone else.

Speaker 1: 20:21

Mary was absorbed with everything that Jesus was saying out of his mouth. She was absorbed in every word, every revelation, every wisdom out of his mouth. Martha, however, was more concerned with how things looked. She was more concerned about appearances. What are people going to think? What would Jesus think if he comes to my house and sees this house a mess? I need to clean the blinds and clean the oven and clean the kitchen, sweep the floors and mop, clean the furniture. She's thinking about the things that are visible. Mary's concerned about the things that people can't even see in her, the things that are not tangible. Mary was concerned about that, things that people can't even see in her, the things that are not tangible. Mary was concerned about that, not the household chores. So to Martha it was unfair.

Speaker 1: 21:09

But the Lord said Martha, why are you upset and troubled, pulled away by all these many distractions? Even Jesus called them distractions. Now, I'm not saying keep a messy house. If you got a house or apartment. Clean your house or apartment. Clean your bathroom. Clean your toilet. Clean your kitchen. Clean your front yard. Clean your garage, clean your bedroom. I'm not saying don't clean up, because God says distraction. Y'all put me in a bad spot. That's not what I'm saying to y'all. The word's not saying that either. But what he's saying is in that moment, when the master is in the house and when the master is present, all your focus should be on the king, not on you, not on your work, not on your assignment, but on the one who's in your midst, who's given you the assignment in the first place.

Speaker 1: 22:02

The Bible says, in other versions of the translation, that Mary chose the better thing. Mary chose the best thing. The passage says Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at my feet. There's nothing more important than the one who gave us the assignment, not the assignment. There's nothing more important than the giver of us the assignment, not the assignment. There's nothing more important than to give her the gift, not even the gift itself. She's undistracted.

Speaker 1: 22:29

The Bible says, and I won't take this privilege from her. It's a privilege to not be distracted, because you see things clearer, you see things with more focus and you learn more, you grow yourself more and you become a better version of yourself, not only for your family, not only for yourself, not only for your family, but for the world at large. That's one of the lessons I'm learning in this season I'm in right now is removing all the distractions. I'm learning how to sit at the master's feet and glean what he has for me. Like Philippians 4 and 8, I'm trying to keep my thoughts continually fixed on what's authentic, what's real, what's honorable, what's admirable, what's beautiful, what's respectful, what's pure and holy, what's merciful and kind. I'm trying to fasten my thoughts to the glorious work of God and giving him praise in the midst of all that I'm dealing with, and not move into the realm of distractions. Because those things if Jesus responds like that himself and says Mary's undistracted and it's a privilege for her to be in that place, she chose the thing that's the most important distracted and it's a privilege for her to be in that place she chose the thing that's the most important Answer for me.

Speaker 1: 23:44

Why would you embrace distractions and allow them to be at a place in your life where you can't see the master and he's right in front of your face? This is something that we got to think about. We got to think about this. Distractions are going to happen, they're going to be around us. They're basically offerings.

Speaker 1: 24:09

Look at it like this when you go through a mall, a mall or any kind of business district, you can use your imagination if you have to. But anybody that shops I'm a big shopper, I love to shop. My wife does not Go figure, right. But if you walk through a business district or walk through a mall, what do you see? People standing outside of their businesses trying to sell you something. Right, they need you to come into their store. They're trying to invite you in. They got music playing. They got the doors open so you can hear the music. To try to invite you in. I'm going to give you the bed back and beyond. You can smell the candles, you can smell the sprays. It tries to invite you in. You have people who even have pampers in their hand. It invites you to come in for a 50% off sale or a 30% off sale. Or people trying to sell you cologne and perfume or want to give you a makeover or do your makeup in the mall. They're trying to invite you to come in.

Speaker 1: 25:09

But if you went to the mall for a specific reason, with a specific amount of time that you have available to go there. All those things, you know they represent a nice sale 50% off who doesn't like a nice sale? Right? If you're a shopper, you look for the deals I get that but all those areas represent distractions. They're keeping you potentially from getting to your location and get what you need. Yes, you might see something that you like, yes, it could be something you might even think that you need, but in this time frame, which is limited, you have a specific goal and you don't have time to stop because it'll distract you from your goal and you'll lose time and you'll be late and you'll be delayed and get into what you need to be getting to. So preparation is key in there, definitely, but all those areas are considered distractions. If you have more time, then there won't be distractions then. But because you're on a mission, because you have a certain time from you're working on, all those things are distractions to you to keep you from getting to your location. And it's how many minutes to do what you came to the mall or the business district to do, if that makes sense, to the mall or the business district to do, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 26:23

Mary chose the better thing, the more important thing to sit at the feet of the master and not be distracted by all the things that look like responsibilities things I didn't do last week, I need to be doing now. All those things are distractions. They're on my to-do list, but nothing prioritizes or nothing should be in a higher priority than being with the master. Nothing should be in a higher priority than being with the master. Nothing should be in a higher priority than being with Jesus and sitting at his feet and learning from him. So your time in the word, your prayer time, your fasting, your study time those things had to be priorities in your life. If not, your life's going to be rough. You're going to have a lot of challenges that you don't even need to have because you're not centered and focused on the right things. You're trying to fix all the little things around the house and do all the little things with your job and do all the little things with your personal likes and desires and wants, but the time with the master is on a back burner, if you even have it at all. It's a challenge that we got to overcome.

Speaker 1: 27:19

There's a book called the Art of War by Sun Tzu, which I love it. Excuse me, it's a really good read. It's not easy to read, but it's a really good read if you think about it with the right context and you're going through it with the right mindset. There's so many distractions and deceptions around us, like the magicians do when they do magic tricks what's called sleight of hand Basically a clever deception, hiding the truth to gain an advantage since it was happening.

Speaker 1: 27:46

Sun Tzu is saying that all warfare is based on deception. I'm going to read the whole quote to you. It says all warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable. When using our attack, we must seem unable. When using our forces, we must appear inactive. When we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away. When far away, we must make him believe that we are near. It's the art of deception. All warfare is based on deception. Why did I bring it up? Why am I quoting Sun Tzu right now? Well, the reason why I'm doing that is for one very good reason All of those distractions that I named as an example, in the business district and in the mall, if you got to get somewhere and you're time crunched.

Speaker 1: 28:36

Those things can be almost like being in a war situation because you're like I got to get here. All the things are trying to stop me, trying to grab my arm and pull me over to them, trying to spray stuff in my face, get me to smell these scents, or try to take this 50 percent off catalog or pamphlet or circular, and it's like you can't even get to the mall, you can't even get to your walk in the straight line, take you 30 minutes to get to your goal. If you stop to listen to everybody else's sales pitch and what they want to try to get you to do, I know it's just not like a little war, just an analogy. Everything that we deal with in this life Under the proviso that we're at war. We shared this at multiple episodes in previous seasons and even recently. We're at war. We shared this in multiple episodes in previous seasons and even recently.

Speaker 1: 29:25

Excuse me, we're at war and we have an enemy who is against us, that wants to try to destroy us. He wants us to think that he's near when he's far away. He wants us to think that he's far away when he's near. He wants us to think that he's active when he's not. It's all based on deception. Deception, like Sun Tzu said, and everything that's in your life, and I want you to look at this thing as we begin to close out today. Look at this sincerely.

Speaker 1: 29:51

Make that list, like we talked about earlier, but think about this. Everything that you think is a responsibility or obligation, just maybe. Maybe it's not, maybe it's a distraction, maybe we're being deceived because we're doing things and filling up our calendar and our day's agenda with stuff to keep us from doing the things that are most important. Excuse me the thing that's the most important. Excuse me Like the circular gift in front of that clothing store or that person trying to sell us cologne or perfume. The person would do a makeover over our face.

Speaker 1: 30:29

Distraction, because that's not why you're there. You didn't go there for those things. So everything that stands in the way of that is a distraction. It's a potential hindrance to you getting, or obstacle from you getting from one place to where you need to be. Look at your life in the same way. What are you doing? Look at your list. Why are you doing this? Is this really important? Is this really vital? Do you need to be doing this? Something to think about. We'll talk about this more on future episodes, because is that important? Is that important?

Speaker 1: 31:04

So, wherever you are and however you're listening today, call me Mr U, the podcast. We thank you again for making us a part of your morning, your day and your week. We're your weekly marriage before you change the world. Thank you again for listening to our show. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, of course, please subscribe to the show and download the previous episodes from the past four plus seasons. I think you'll enjoy what you hear. If you're watching this on our YouTube channel, at youtubecom, at theycallmemisteryou, thank you for doing that, of course, we're on Facebook, linkedin, twitter, amazon Music. Wherever you can find your podcast, we're there. Thank you again for listening and supporting our show, and those that are supporting us financially, thank you for doing that as well. We love you guys. We really appreciate what you're doing. Have a great day. Please enjoy this last little bit of music before we close out and have a great day, thank you. We'll see you next time.