Sometimes it feels like we are too busy to do what is important. But that is a contradiction in terms. If something is important it ought to be a priority. Therefore, if we find ourselves too busy to do what is important, perhaps it is the case that the old adage of the squeaky wheel gets the grease has gotten the better of us.
What is the cause of this problem, that is, an approach to priority setting that does not accord with the things that we should actually put first? The cause is that we are unwilling to put up with squeaky wheels. Such an attitude will not lead to happiness because we will always be too busy oiling the wheels, a task which can be delayed, instead of driving the car in the direction we want to go.
If, on the other hand, we are able to briefly observe that squeaky sound and the circumstance in which it is occurring, we might realize that it is not as much of an emergency as we had previously thought. When that is the case, we can direct our attention to the completion of our important work and come back later to deal with those items that are more like low priority distractions. So in this analogy the main problem that has ceased, is not the sound that is bothering us, but rather it is our preoccupation with that low priority distraction that we have eliminated.
We can apply this same approach to our daily lives if we dedicate ourselves to practicing insight meditation. When we train ourselves to observe what is happening and to continually bring our mind to the present moment, we are gaining the ability to determine what items are worthy of our continued attention and what items we can safely ignore or defer. Then we are able to put our full attention on what matters most. Just like in tending a garden we must ensure that we water regularly, so too in tending the mind, happiness will surely follow if we make meditation our top priority.