Competitive Suffering

Somewhere down the line, we started bragging about how busy we are.

You've seen it on Facebook somewhere at least one, if not every day.

Crazy weekend with 12 hours of teaching, 2 performances, a lecture presentation, and I still need to be at the doctor's office at 8am tomorrow. #musicianslife

As a naive undergraduate, I used to stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning practicing the piano every night.

Part of this was for the joy of it, of course. But, part of it was also so I could say I was "one of those dedicated pianists who stayed up until 1 or 2 in the morning practicing every night."

I probably could have gotten triple the work done if I planned more effectively and only practiced during peak rested hours.

We still wear the overloaded schedule (and the price we pay for it) like a badge of honor, though. We treat it like a competition - as if, whoever is the busiest and most overwhelmed is somehow succeeding.

There is a famous Monty Python sketch that takes this to an extreme. The Four Yorkshiremen one-upping each other on how busy they are and how much they've suffered until it reaches comic proportions.

You can check it out here.

The next generation is inflicted with this at younger and younger ages.

My all-time winning student was the middle school student who had to get up at 5am every morning, head to seminary before school each day, do the school day, attend track after school for a few hours, do missionary work, head to that day's concluding activity (my day being piano), and then head home to finish homework until 1am.

She nodded off regularly in lessons, and one day actually passed out in the hallway waiting for her lesson.

It's not a competition we want to win, is it? In the big picture, are the successful ones the ones who are putting in the most hours every week? Or are they the ones who are thinking the most creatively?

Instead of showing off how hard the week was, what if we tried to share the free time we make for the important things? Rest, practicing, family time. Things that matter.

Regularly. Not just during vacation weeks.

Try it. Take a break. Cut something you've been doing that you hate. Make regular play time every day.

See what happens. 

You might be surprised at how much more productive and meaningful your time becomes.

And you might not want to go back.