Making time and Killing time

‘How do I kill time?’,  ... no one every asks that question. Unless you are waiting for your better half to finish shopping and you got absolutely nothing in the mall to distract your attention with. But to save time, now that’s something we all keep pondering over.

The Essentials
I have many things that I need to get done in my daily to-do list. Some that are clear and present needs. Others are left overs from yesterday, and to add to it are new thoughts that are getting planned as actionable. And btw, I am yet to add actions others are expecting from you, with your time involved.

Before you identify something as a task, ask your self these questions -
Is is important to do it now?
Is it important to do it today?
Is it of any value (for me or people I care about)
Is there any immediate or long term benefit?
What’s the worst to happen if its not done?

These questions will clarify your thoughts on how to manage this task. Keep it in the backlog, do it now, keep it an ongoing task (chunk it, I will explain this soon) or do it now (or today or this week, how so ever you see ‘now’ as.)

Prioritise tasks
A simple solution I see for this is to have your priorities set up. Know what’s important and what’s not, when planning. try and identify major to-do things first thing in the morning (the big ones). Small ones can always be impromptu actioned there and then when you have time free for your self.

Chunk it
A lot of time, we have tasks that are big. Like, say, cleaning the house. If you plan to take a leave so that you can do it, then that’s your planning (no right or wrong). But what if taking a leave is not an option? Well, chunk the task. Make small actionable cleaning tasks. Like, say cleaning one room a day after you come back home in the evening. And that way you end up cleaning up the house in a couple of days or more.

Do nothing.
What is the number one thing I would like to do with my time? Actually, nothing. And by that, I mean ‘absolutely nothing’. It’s a wonderful state to be in. And I bet none of us ever even think, let alone attempt to do that. It’s the next best thing to do after meditation. Probably the only thing that comes close to it is documenting our thoughts (like writing) and reflecting. Give it a try and make sense of it. Don’t wait for someone to tell you how you would feel. Just go ahead and experience it.  

Procrastination is my greatest enemy

Yes, I am my own enemy.

I have lost count of the number of times have I have had this thought come across my mind. ‘I wish I had started learning it last year, I would have been a pro by now.’, ‘I wish I had started writing that book, it would have been done by now’. I wish I had, i wish ...

It’s not that I am unaware of my procrastination. It’s not that I don’t know the tools and ticks to beat this behaviour. I know it, and yet I do it. It’s like a curse that I am living. Destined to fail how much every I think I try. And there in that sentence lies the culprit - ‘think’.

Am i thinking right?
We think a lot. We constantly are in an environment that makes us believe that we should do better, act better and know better. Be it in our profession, our society, or with our friends and family. And in doing what the world wants from us, we have a simmering frustration building inside of us. We become restless because we want something for us. But end up doing other people stuff. Leading other peoples lives. We slowly drown out our own voices of decent till we finally just start to believe that we are not worthy of it (perhaps, some of us think that way). We look for the next distraction that will take our attention away form that misery.

It just got worst
That’s when we start to spend time on activities of watching, reading and listening. Wait a minute! ‘Are you saying that these activities are bad?’. They are if what do them on social media and entertainment platforms. These are like crack & companies like Apple, Netflix, Google and Facebook are like drug peddlers doing what ever it takes to keep you hooked on.

Get off these platforms (or at least cut it down by half). And see how blank your mind gets cause its been made to think. I know, I know ... you might be wondering, ‘you are now back at square one’. True, but now you can charter a new course and you have one thing on your side. Your time!

My wisdom grew a shoot 
I started by taking up some simple items on my to-do list. First thing I did was learn swimming. Its been a wish list now for ages. It took me two months, but i could swim in the deep end of the pool. The only thing that I realised, age had taken away form me was my muscle strength. My coach advices me to start going to gym. So I did. The first few weeks was a painful experience. To add to it I had to change my eating habits and also quality. But I am glad I did as I not only am in better shape, but feeling fantastic.        

What next? .... this is fun. I don’t want to stop. I quickly whipped out a notepad and started jotting down things I wanted to do. Simple stuff. Nothing too fancy or difficult. I had time and I was not gonna blow that away to a peddler.

Now that I have rejuvenated myself, I don’t want to stop this momentum. Writing, sketching, story telling, and much more on my mind. Remember, do stuff that excites you. It should not always be about doing things that will make money. Although, that too is important. But once you have a skill, you can figure what to do with it. More importantly, follow your instinct and passion. Things you learn and do (or even attempt at) will enrich you for life. They will inspire you to do be a better human being.