Making Extra Time to Focus on things we care about

“I’m too busy to do anything cool/worthwhile/fun.”

We all have extra time.

Extra time? Not me. I’m tooooooo busy!

Oh yeah? You’re full of doggy doo-doo!

My friend Lucinda is very busy. With three young kids and a full schedule, she has little time to herself. Surely she can’t generate any spare time? Well, she does spend what seems to be 30 minutes each morning sitting on the toilet while her husband watches the kids. I know, I was just visiting for a couple of days. I didn’t exactly see her, but I figured it out. Also she spends a lot of time putting on enough makeup to look like Tammy Lee Baker.

Hey Lucinda, wake up with a cup of coffee instead of meditating on the toilet and skip the face paint. You don’t need it, you already look fine and besides it SCARES your kids!

My friend Furry John complains he has no time. He could easily have an extra few hours a week if he didn’t spend so much time in the shower!!! Furry, you spend AT LEAST an hour a day in the shower! That after shower preening is quite time intensive too. Try 5-minute showers like me and stop trimming your mustache every day– you’ll gain an extra 7 or so hours a week.

My time is always short. I could (and perhaps should) generate extra productive time if I drank less! Yes, I love to drink, primarily wine. I’ll have a glass or maybe two with dinner. Maybe a glass later too. And I’m always trying to get things done after dinner – things I enjoy, things like writing this. The wine rarely helps and usually impedes my abilities. I could save time and increase productivity in the things I care about by drinking less! I'm sure there are other ways I could save time too.

So maybe we have some more time now – what do we do with it?

Lucinda would probably use the time to sit on the toilet longer and put on an extra layer of face paint. Furry would spend more time showering and preening. I guess this approach may not work for everyone??

I'd focus my extra time on improving things that are important to me. I’ve been called a “continuous improvement nut, “ although I don’t think that’s entirely accurate.

Soon it will be warm and I’ll be spending some improving my fishing skills. Yes, I try to become a better flyfishman every year and my enjoyment absolutely increases as my skill does. I’ll be spending some time working on improving my competitive “antenna farm” during the day and much of my professional work will shift to the night (work won’t just go away – besides, I like most of what I do as well as all of my clients).

When time gets really tight, we can always cut back on sleep! We’ve all done it before.

If it’s for something we’re passionate about, it’s worth it!
Sometimes it's just a question of priorities.