“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” —Michael Altshuler
Not a life goal for most: spending extra hours/days (cumulative) on boring, repetitive tasks. With reflection & planning, we can minimize them. Instead of being annoyed that we ‘once again’ have to do that task, we can start being happier if we have minimized it; ‘yay’. Finding ways & ideas for cutting down on repetitions; I start here with 5 of my own ideas:
1. I now grocery shop only once every 3 weeks. Over the last year I transitioned from shopping once a week, to shopping once every 10, 14, & now only every 21 days. Not only has grocery shopping @ Costco cut my shopping bill (~ 50%) over the past several months, but I spend less time on it overall. I don’t enjoy clinking shopping carts endlessly at the store; I minimize the task.
2. Similarly, what’s the longest to reasonably go between domestic repetitions? We can measure what’s the reasonable longest, & then calendar the task repeats. Example: I don’t enjoy cutting my toenails. How many days can I reasonably go between repeats of that task? Another example: something we currently do once a week, can perhaps be done every 8 days.
3. Less time (eventually) deleting junk emails. A ‘drain the swamp’ initiative: blocking those junky emails that we don’t read. Instead of spending time every day/week reviewing/deleting them. We’ll maybe be happier & satisfied for a while, until we might need to drain that swamp again. Rewarding.
4. Less repetitive time spent by: grouping multiples of the same task. Often more time effective. Example: cooking a big batch of something, then dividing it into portions to put in the freezer. & Then might not have to cook it from scratch again for quite a while.
And:
5. Less repetitive driving/shopping in the neighbourhood. During the week keeping a note of what is needed. Combining shopping tasks into one trip; maybe only once a week. Plotting a circular route of the shop locations (trying not to backtrack). Uses less gas (if driving); use less time overall.
Reminder: a classic rule for installing a new wanted habit, is doing it 21 days (or 21x ?) in a row. It then begins to be automatic. The trick, e.g.: if we do it 15 days/times in a row & then fail to do it once, we must start all over again (with ‘1’) counting up to 21. & Let’s fill ‘extra time’ with mindful, meaningful things, & not take it for granted. Maybe: studying, or working on a side hustle? Also valuable: meditate and/or let the mind roam free for short periods. Or?
“Own time or time will own you.” —Brian Norgard