Nobody wants to waste time. We want to get the most out of life. Striving for life balance is a widespread goal these days. We want lives that have satisfying portions of productive work, meaningful non-work activities and rejuvenating recreation. We want a lot.
But identifying what constitutes wasted time can be tricky. Last month I wrote about making time to think and I noted that sometimes productive thinking is not particularly goal-oriented or structured. John Gratton warns us away from idleness and I agree. I just want to add that what may look and even feel like idleness isn’t necessarily idleness. Freeform thinking (aka daydreaming) can be equally productive; sometimes even more so since there’s no pressure to produce results immediately.
The opposite of idleness is activity. Yes, shun idleness, but don’t simply replace it with activity, any activity. I think a good test for wasted time is whether the activity (or lack thereof) in question saps your energy, mental and physical, or increases it. What's your test?
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Claire, what you say is correct. It reminded me of a story I heard that compared artists to cows. To watch cows, it's like they're not working at all. Until milking time.... Thanks for your insight.
Posted by: John | May 9, 2006 11:32 AM | Permalink to Comment