Since when does "busy" mean "good"?

I heard a story once about woman who came to this country and was starting to learn English.  She was a great observer and a quick learner and, though she wasn't formally educated, she picked up on quite a bit of English pretty quickly.  Every time anyone asked her how she was doing she said "really busy" with a smile. After a while it became clear that "really busy" was her automatic response to that questions -- one that she'd learned by listening to those around her*.  How many of us automatically say "really busy" when asked about how we are?  I know I'm guilty of this sometimes.

But when did "busy" become the culturally valued substitution for "good" (why American's say "good" instead of how they're really feeling is a whole 'nother can of worms!).  Why do we value busyness?  As a thought experiment: imagine you ask your colleague "how are you doing" and he responds "Taking a break!" or "Not much is going on."  What would you think of this person?  Why?

I think busyness is the particular disease of the procrastinator -- and the dissertator, too!  Instead of doing our planned tasks for the day and then leaving off for the evening, we spend all day spinning our wheels *wishing* we could get to the important stuff, but instead get nothing done and feel guilty about it all night.  Imagine, now, a world where you worked when you wanted to work and then allowed yourself to really take a break when you weren't working.  Imagine evenings without guilt when you could proudly announce "I'm taking a well deserved break."  Imagine really "powering down" mentally.  Pretty great, huh?

But if you know it'd feel great, why isn't that enough to just make it happen?  That's a complicated problem -- one that almost always comes up in coaching and one that we can almost always find a solution to!  If you find yourself really stuck in this pattern, it might be time to get some help to figure out your own solution!  And then get moving toward meeting your goals AND having guilt-free time off.


*I really wish I remember where I heard this story so I could give credit!