Life in 10-minute increments
Last night I finished rereading Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons In Life by Richard Branson, the guy who started
Virgin Records and Virgin Airlines and Virgin Galactic (for future space travel). The title of the book refers to Branson’s attitude toward risk in business and adventure, and it’s a pretty entertaining read.
But in one section he talks with admiration about the guy who started IKEA, and about how efficient he is with his time:
“[He] divides his day into ten-minute sections. He says, ‘Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into ten-minute units, and don’t waste even a minute.’”
I don’t know about you guys, but this would drive me IN. SANE.
Branson goes on to say, “You don’t have to fill your time rushing about in order to use your time wisely, though. Bill Gates–the world’s top charity donor–said his staff could spend two hours gazing into space, as long as their minds were working . . .”
I can just see Mr. IKEA standing there with a clipboard. “Two hours, divided by ten minutes, that’s twelve units–did you really put them to best use?”
Contrast that with Katie Alender’s post a few days ago about always living the half hour or the week or the month ahead, rather than noticing what your life is about right now. I am so guilty of that, and really have to fight to remember to enjoy the present. I like how Katie analyzes it–go read her and then come back (I promise it will take less than a 10-minute unit, and it is time well-spent).
The last little reflection on time I want to offer is the woman interviewed on ABC News last night as part of their report on new census figures showing Americans work longer hours and longer years–well past “normal” retirement age. This woman was featured because she’s one of the many people organizing her life to beat rush hour. She leaves the house by 5:00 AM, and doesn’t return home until 7:30 or 8:00 at night. And she has a husband and small child waiting for her. Sure, she’d like to spend more time with them, but every extra minute at home translates into an extra ten minutes in traffic.
Now that’s the kind of situation that would make me feel like my life were slipping away. Unless I were listening to audio books all the time I drove–I guess that would add some fulfillment.
What this all comes down to, for me anyway, is there’s a lot of insanity to be enjoyed in the stressful thinking about how we spend our time. Do we feel bad about gazing out the window for a few minutes, when we could be typing up another report or otherwise feeling productive? When I castigate myself for not writing more books in a year–I mean, look at Charles Dickens and Stephen King and Meg Cabot and all those other novelists who can write multiple books every twelve months–am I really pulling an IKEA?
What Katie reminded me, and what that woman on the news last night showed me, is that for me, at least, those long periods of thinking and goofing off are part of what I enjoy about my life. Yes, I could crank out a new book every three months. I am physically capable of it. And maybe if I were more efficient–and didn’t blog–I’d have a lot more pages of a novel to show for my life every day.
But I’m not on the road driving to work for an hour, I’m not suffering through my former day job so I can rush home to do what I really love, and generally, maybe I’m doing a lot better with how I spend my time than I like to admit to myself. There’s that critical, slave-master part of me that always thinks I should be doing more, but maybe it’s time to give that mean voice a rest.
And spend ten minutes petting my dog if I feel like it.
Thoughts?
Technorati Tags: Writing, Publishing, Time Management, Efficiency, Insanity in Time Management
Oh boy, as someone who usually has a hundred irons in the fire every day, the whole topic of time and energy and how to spend it is always a big one for me. I’m not big on the daily affirmation thing, but I do have two statements that I try to remind myself of often, both come from a friend/psychiatrist of mine: There is always time to do the things you really want to do; and, If you worry about tomorrow tomorrow, you’ll never have to worry.
Deborah, I appreciate those statements, especially the last. I’ve been a worrier all my life, and only in the past few years have I managed to control this tendency a bit. I’m trying my best to learn about living from my soon-to-be 3-year-old. I’m sure many of you have been there, rushing to get into the grocery store or some other all-important place, while your child stops to jump over every crack in the sidewalk, breaks free from your grasp to pick dandelions in the grass, points at every seemingly meaningless item with the utmost joy and delight. THAT is life. Talk about stopping to smell the roses. And interestingly, she never seems to feel stressed, unless I’m trying to rush her on to the next thing.
Weird. I just posted about this the other day. And then kinda sorta again today. Because it needs saying. And now I’m going to swing in my hammock. Later…
I used to be that woman featured on the news…I still can’t believe I worked 60-70+ hours in my consulting days before kids.
There is nothing more sobering than a loved one who is ill and is dependent on others. It truly makes you realize how precious every moment is.
Work is so important, but so is enjoying all that life has to offer. Though, I’ve found it’s always easier said than done, since by nature, I’m a worrier.
Great post, Robin.
“There is always time to do the things you really want to do; and, If you worry about tomorrow tomorrow, you’ll never have to worry.”
Deborah, those two statements are golden. Thank you so much for passing them along. Those are post-above-the computer-worthy.
Kelley, I love that description of your almost-3-year-old enjoying life! Boy, can we learn a lot from her–especially the part about “she never seems to feel stressed, unless I’m trying to rush her on to the next thing.” Couldn’t that be true for all of us?
Vivian, I can’t believe you used to do that, either. How hard! But you’re right–all it takes is a true crisis to make you realize you can dramatically shift your priorities and your schedule, and the world doesn’t end. Turns out your 60-70+ hours weren’t what was keeping it together after all.
Well it sounds too structured for me but I could definitely use some order in my life. Especially today, I had a good morning but the rest of the afternoon was pretty sad. But in the nut shell I need a job BAD I have like no money! It’s really frustrating. Not only that I get stressed really easily like even about little things so being unorganized isn’t a good thing for me. And I share a room with my sister who makes a mess like everywhere she goes so I have like NO control over it! I don’t know what to do? Seems like it should be her cleaning up not me! I’m so disorganized!
Yeah, I do that ten-minute unit thing… ten minutes of blog reading, followed by ten minutes of blog reading, followed by ten minutes of blog reading…
Seriously, the most productive time in my entire life was when I followed the da Vinci program for a summer — 3 hours awake, 90 minutes asleep, repeat. Everything falls in sync with your sleep states, your body is never tired, eating habits change, it’s incredible. Unfortunately it is impossible to maintain if (a) you work a traditional job or (b) you have kids who require your attention at more “traditional” schedules or (c) both.
Today at work (in a book store) I finished reading a novel and put it down to reflect and minute later a customer (!) steps up and asks
“Why aren’t you reading!”
“I just finished.”
“I know, I saw you. Are you out of things to read?”
Jeez! I can’t even reflect on what I just read, I have to jump to the next thing? Gotta fill those ten minutes!
Dylan, no way around it–sharing a room as you get older sucks. No privacy, and that whole issue of whose mess it is–urrg. I really feel for you.
Here’s the only advice I have to give about finding a job and making money: start by thinking about your talents and how you’d like to use them. If you draw, can you design t-shirts and hats and sell them at school or on-line? If you want to make money from your writing, think about composing and designing your own greeting cards, and selling those. In other words, think beyond the fast-food job, and instead focus on getting paid for what you already love to do.
When I was a teenager I started my own Saturday “Playschool” for the neighborhood kids. I organized games and crafts and contests, and got paid to wrangle the kiddies for a few hours while their mothers took a break. When the group got too big I hired a few friends to help out.
Put your imagination to work, Dylan. I’ll bet you can think of something you can do to both have fun and earn a little money.
David, I’ve never heard of that da Vinci method. How bizarre! But it really works, huh? Although you’re right–trying to fit that around a job or kids must be nearly impossible.
As for your thing with the customer today, I know! It’s crazy! That happens with writers, too–you’re out talking about your new book, and someone wants to know what’s next, and then what book is after that. No time to just stop and reflect and relax.
I hope once the customer walked away you still got your chance to think. It’s so easy to rush on to the next thing.
Liz, didn’t mean to skip over you. Send me the links in a comment so people can read. I like to link!
AW thanks Robin! Those are really great ideas I’ll do some major thinking and figure it out!
Thanks for the advice!