Do You Find Yourself Wasting Time?

If so, pat yourself on the back!

Photo by Tungsten Rising on Unsplash

Rush, rush, rush. Sleep, sleep, sleep (but never enough)…

This is the quote I woke up to in my email:

The Time You Enjoy Wasting is Not Wasted Time

Ask yourself,

“How long is your to-do list?”

I like it when my list fits on a 3x3 Post-it. It usually doesn’t. Instead, I’ve “graduated” to 3x5 index cards. There, I’m staying firm!

Now, after waking up to this quote of the day by writer Marthe Troly-Curtin, I had to ask myself,

Does my index card actually matter?

Yes, I’d rather take a walk with Teddy (my dog) and bake some fresh scones. After that, I'd like to top off my day by finishing the book I’m reading by Dehlia Ephron.

By any stretch of my imagination, this constitutes luxurious self-indulgence, and yet Marthe Troly-Curtin is telling me that it’s not a waste of my time. This might be true if I don’t insert “productive” before “time.”

The Defense of My Not-Wasted, Not-Productive Time

To truly internalize the brilliance of Curtin’s quote, I need to put it into my own words. It goes something like this. My “wasted” time is not wasted because:

• I value the “long game.” The long game is about staying mentally and physically healthy for many, many years. That probably means downtime is good.

• I’m not a machine, so I shouldn’t treat myself like one. While I like being productive, I’m not on the assembly line writing and consulting for maximum output. At least, I shouldn’t be.

• Expanding my universe means expanding how I spend my time. I should, for the heck of it, watch stupid shows, read meh books, take aimless walks, and be open to odd things that come my way. Recently, my nephew asked me, “Wanna learn how to make hot and sour soup?” when I was going to pull weeds and increase the odds of my having a thriving garden. I said, “Yes.” Two hours later, we were enjoying a bowl of soup. The garden still looked unattended to, but who cares?

• I am practicing what I preach: I sometimes tell my family they need to relax more. Yes, it is the pot calling the kettle black. They’re just like me. We can stress out about our work, or if we change the view, what’s outside our windows. There are so many opportunities to be anxious.

  But now I get to be “Exhibit A” and say,

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

In other words, go waste some time and have fun.

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I asked my husband what he thought of the quote of the day. He remembered that I also get jokes to start my morning. Before he would answer my question about the quote, he was curious about the day’s jokes. There were two, which I reported on (btw I subscribe to kid-friendly humor). Namely:

Q: How does a pizza introduce itself? A: Slice to meet you

Q: Why was the bunny upset? A: It was having a bad hare day.

They were both stupid jokes that made us laugh a little. The quote of the day definitely warranted a stronger and more meaningful response.

But following the idea that the time we enjoy wasting is not wasted time and that we actually chuckled when I shared the jokes-of-the-day, I took this to mean that the jokes weren’t a waste, either.

And if that is my standard of what constitutes time well spent, then all kinds of new doors are opening for me. It does make me wonder, is this what it means to set a low bar?

Well, even so, this might also mean that I double down on my effort to make my to-do list fit on a small Post-it note.

That would be a win.

An even bigger win would be if my children begin to internalize the message that wasting time can be good.

Anyone playing? Kids? Readers?

Speaking of playing… guess my new favorite way to waste time.

Mahjong!

I often play Mahjong online, which isn’t as good as playing in person, but it still confers the benefits of wasting time.

Mahjong is good for the mind and the soul.

Even better, I can check off “waste some time” on my Post-it. Oh, the irony…