What a waste of time!

This headline will be the start of the “Esther’s Friday Blog” today. I have been there myself, so I would like to share with you, what made me change my way of thinking.

I was busy – very busy. I had several on-going projects at the same time. Most of these projects were (luckily) pleasant, but of course I had some “duty projects” as well. (As do most of us – some more than others).

The most important for was to use my time most effectively, so I had time for all my projects  without wasting my time. I wanted to be efficient. Thus, I could relax, when I had finalized my daily projects.

This meant that my alarm went off no sooner than 1 hour, before I had to leave my home. I didn’t want to miss out on any sleep. Especially, because my mind kept wandering about all my projects, so I slept very poorly at night.

In the morning, I was just as efficient, could manage everything at home in time for leaving at the exact time suggested by my GPS. Once in a while, I did give myself an extra 5 or 10 minutes to travel, but in those cases I felt I was a little to generous with my valuable time.

Anyway, this morning changed everything. It was one of the mornings following an almost sleepless night because of thoughts about my projects. Optimistically, I imagined that 5 minutes extra for parking my car was more than sufficient time to make my meeting in time. However, I was somewhat irritated that my second meeting wasn’t until 1.5 hours after my first meeting. .

I was very happy to find that the road was almost clear, so I praised myself: “How clever  you are, Esther – for choosing this road instead of the highway. At the same time, I was a little irritated, because I had left my home too early. Now I was going to waste precious time.

Alas – Arriving nearby the destination in due time – I found that I was not allowed to turn left – but had to continue to a larger road. At this point of time, I was still calm and full of trust – but found that I could only turn right here because of roadwork. This lead me further away from my destination. I had to continue for some time at this road before I could turn right. But alas – when turning right a road worker was just closing a gate to the road and waving to me to stop me from going that way. Luckily, he felt sorry for me, when he noticed my panic face, so he let me through as the last car. At that point of time, I know for a fact that I am too late for my meeting – as I have just heard the start of the news from the car radio.

Finally, I reach the parking area at my destination. However, I only feel a little happy, when I succeed in conquering a parking space. Now, I know for a fact that I have to run in order not to be even much more too late. Therefore, I hurry setting the time on my Parking disc. (Need I say that I set the wrong time).

The woman, I was to meet with, became my savior. She was a coach. Somehow, she managed to guide me to another way of thinking. At the exact point of time, I realized that I had found gold – I felt completely calm.

I ralized that what made me stress out wasn’t because of all my projects. No – it was due to the fact that I didn’t want to waste any time between my projects. I wanted to be well-structured and exploit my time most optimally.

By using my time this, I was not doing myself a favor. I didn’t take into consideration closed roads or roadwork or parking discs.

This wise woman taught me that I should plan blocks of extra time around my projects, so I would be overturned by unforseen events. She taught me to see this extra block time as “my own time” instead of “waste of time”.

Now, I no longer feel irritated of “wasting my time”, when I arrive too early at a meeting. Instead, I am happy that I am able to have “my own time” , so have time for a walk or to read a book (e.g. a mindfulness book). I have plenty of time to set my parking disc, and I am able to arrive at my meeting more calm, relaxed and full of positive energy than previously.

What about you? Do you have a “waste of time” or “your own time”?

Life is too short for stress!

PS: Luckily, I didn’t get a parking fine 🙂

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Photo: Freeimages – B S K