Barbara Ehrenreich’s The Cult of Busyness, is an essay that tells how different people consider things as being busy. One person’s busyness may be another person’s everyday ritual, something they could do with their eyes closed, but for another it is a big deal. Busyness does not lead to success, because people who are not busy may become successful, people who are busy are not always successful, and it most of the time it takes more than just busyness to be a success.
People who are not always busy may actually be very successful. Being successful can be defined in many different ways, and usually depends on the individual, and what success means to them. Achieving one’s goals usually means success, and it might take work, but not necessarily busyness. That person’s goals might just be to have a decent job, a car and a house of their own, and all they have to do is go to work everyday to keep that goal as an achievement, and they will consider themselves as being successful. Also, being successful might mean that the person is extremely efficient with time, and knows how to maximize it, and can delegate tasks to others.
Just because someone looks like they have a lot going on, it does not mean that they are successful. It could just mean that they have poor time management skills, or that they procrastinate and have a lot of things on their plate. Even if it is not procrastination or poor time management that causes someone to be so busy, the busyness does not equal success or even lead to success. Ehrereich states that “busyness has become an important insignia of upper-middle-class status” (284). This almost makes no sense, as busyness does not lead to success. She also says that, “If the truly successful manage to never be busy, it is also true that many of the busiest people will never be successful” (285).