I Know Where My Time Goes

We’ve all heard the expression: “Where has the time gone?” I’m sure a lot of us have probably used that phrase. I used to wonder all the time how time got away from me. The other day I had an epiphany about why I lost so much time. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was right and, sadly, there’s not a darn thing I can do about it in some instances.

Let me explain: I consult my “to do” list and I set off to accomplish something on the list, not necessarily the first thing, or the most important thing, but one of the things none-the-less. Let’s suppose I’m going to go respond to an email that I put off from yesterday. Easy, peasy, 2 minutes, done, check it off the list.

On my way to the office, I pass through the kitchen to pick up a cup of tea. This is where I spy the overflowing laundry basket. “I’ll just throw that stuff in the washer so when I’m ready to take a break, they’ll be ready for the dryer.” Excellent plan!! I can cross 2 things off my list.

As I’m stuffing napkins, dish towels and soiled aprons into the washer I discover – horror – ugly lipstick stains on some of the napkins, which requires me to get out the stain remover spray. That’s when I discover that the stain remover spray bottle is almost empty, requiring me to go upstairs to refill it. I have to go upstairs because that’s where I store the extra supplies, as there is no room downstairs. When I arrive in the laundry room upstairs, I find that the large bottle is also almost empty, which means I have to get a new bottle out of the storage cabinet, which means I have to go to the closet for the step stool because I am too short to reach the shelf.

Sidenote: I figure I can save about an hour every single day if I were just 3 inches taller. I can’t even count the number of times a day I have to grab a step stool (yes, I have one in every room) to get something out of my reach.

Back to the email. Spray bottle refilled, I hustle back downstairs, spray the stains, let them sit for a couple of minutes while I put soap in the washer, etc. Then I go to grab the old toothbrush to scrub at the stains only to find an empty space where the toothbrush normally lives. Someone didn’t put it back when they finished using it which means I have to either 1) go in search of it; or 2) find another one. But, before I do that, I have to add stain remover to the laundry list because I have just opened my last “extra” bottle.

Success! I found the toothbrush, scrubbed the stains, started the washer, grabbed my tea, and headed to the office. When the computer is booted up and ready to go, I find the email and hover over the keypad ready to respond when . . . the phone rings. (sigh) I get up, answer the phone, have a conversation with someone who wants something we don’t normally offer here at the inn, but because I’m a nice person, I make an exception, but that requires me to do something extra that I don’t normally do, which means I need to do that right away or I’ll forget to do it, so I go and do it, then return to the computer to respond to the email.

At this point, I’ve done a whole bunch of stuff but accomplished absolutely nothing. And, while I was excited about crossing 2 things off my “to do” list, I’ve still not crossed anything off the list and 45 minutes have passed. And, did I hit send on that email or not?

So, that’s where my time goes. I’d like to think of myself as a fairly organized and efficient person, but dang . . . I sure don’t feel like it. Granted, this is a BIG house and getting from here to there takes a few extra seconds, especially if it involves going upstairs, which happens frequently, and I have a 3-story house, but sheesh, every darn day it feels like every project, no matter how simple, takes 5 times longer to do that it should.

It’s not so much that I get sidetracked, as it is I’m trying to be efficient. I could have made myself a note to take care of the extra thing the lady on the phone wanted, but then I would have had to take the time to write the note and still have to actually do the task at some other point down the road so it’s easier to just do it now and get it over with. Does that make sense?

Anyway, how about you guys, what eats up your time unnecessarily, like getting out the stepstool to reach the middle and top shelves in the cupboards?

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Word of the Day: Vaccary

Fun fact about me: When I was in 7th grade, I was the tallest kid in school. I shot up to 5 feet 4 and 3/4 inches and just stayed there.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, January 2022. Images by Google and giphy.com