Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Are you a Fritterer or a Savorer?

What are the ways that you waste time?

How about the ways that you savor it?

Do you think about these differences? Having worked from home for over three years now, I'm keenly aware of time. For the first couple years I was amazed at how much I could fit into a day: gardening, cooking, writing for pleasure, writing for work, cleaning, walking downtown, visiting with friends, exercising. I took full advantage of my newfound freedom from a restrictive office-based schedule. But slowly I have managed to fritter just as much time away as I save. Most often by sitting staring at my computer screen, caught between activities. I go into a kind of trance that I must literally wrench myself from. I've taken to opening the project I must work on right away, so that in the first pause after screen-glaring, I will see that project blinking at me like a puppy waiting to be walked.

So I've decided to try and savor time more. The way to do this, I've found, is to put fiction writing first, even if I'm "not in the mood." Then to move on to quality time in the first project on my list, and then, to take a break. In that break I can swim or eat or walk downtown or see a friend or even a couple of those things. Strangely, when I give myself that break, I actually manage to get more done and the day feels less wasted and there is a whole lot less glazy-eyed frittering going on.

How about you? How do you balance your time?

JPR

5 Comments:

At 2:10 PM, Blogger tricia stirling said...

i waste time looking at art blogs. I could probably get a lot more writing done if I were to stop being obsessed with the life/creations of crafters.
i savor time after the kids have gone to bed. i love to lay on the couch with a stack of library books and a beer, fighting the urge to turn in. it's the "five more minutes," or "one more paragraph" longing I had as a child, only now I can be my own parent and say yes to the one more chapter, one more book, one more poem.

 
At 8:40 AM, Blogger Ms. Lori said...

Unfortunately, I have no time to waste. :-( Four kids and a terminally ill Mom makes for a very busy, crazy day...

The few moments I have to myself I spend working out, drinking a nice Coors Light (or six) while sitting on my patio, and cruising the 'Net.

Haven't read a book or written a story in a shamefully long time.

Dammit, I want my brain back!!!

 
At 7:14 AM, Blogger Maryanne Stahl said...

I fritter. posting here, alas, is evidence of it.

 
At 7:50 PM, Blogger Patry Francis said...

Another fritterer here, but I do intend to change...tomorrow.

 
At 8:36 AM, Blogger Jordan E. Rosenfeld said...

So there seem to be more fritterers than savorers...that makes me feel better :)

Though I will bet that for most of us, some of the ways we "fritter" we are also savoring :)

J

 

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