I’ve been thinking a lot about time.
I never seem to have enough of it. I make excuses for it: I do have a long commute (3 hours a day, sometimes more); I do have a challenging day job that frequently requires extra hours; I am still doing up my house; I am getting married next year.
But…
I am in control of a lot of these things. I do devote a lot of energy to some of this when perhaps there is less need or it is unproductive. I have had more free time in the past.
I suspected, and now know, I was wasting time and so I did a quick tracker of what I’d been up to. The results were startling. In addition to the time sink that is my commute I waste four to five hours a day doing…sweet FA: surfing, watching stuff on TV because I am emotionally exhausted (because I have let trivia get to me), misjudging train times, waiting for take outs because I can’t be bothered to cook. It has to stop. In some respects it’s genuinely hurting me.
For example, a frequent excuse for not writing is that I am too worn out and stressed (last eighteen months have been a bumpy old ride). Yet: if I sit down and write – after: I feel relaxed, energised and happy. It doesn’t matter if the first few paragraphs are like getting blood from a stone because I know by the time I get four or five in the words will start to flow. I always seem to forget this.
So what am I going to do?
1. I am avoiding take aways (I am creating an exception for my holiday in September because otherwise it is not realistic.)
2. I am banning TV unless I have finished my word count for the day. Ditto surfing the Internet.
3. Inspired by this post, I am making time to think at weekends and to ponder stuff as I wander between offices (no more moaning about split locations!).
4. I am going to reintroduce cycling to the office (at least some of the time).
5. I am posting this so I don’t forget.
Now: I am going to write something.