60 Seconds

Of late, I've realized how much I procrastinate.  And it's not because I'm lazy. And it's not because I lack ambition. I procrastinate because I feel like I don'thave enough time, perpetually.  If I need to write my blog, but only have 15 minutes, I put it off because I don't feel like fifteen minutes is enough time to write a decent blog entry.  If I need to clean up my house, I may find myself neglecting it on a Saturday morning because I don't have at least an hour to devote to cleaning.  Recently I've realized how many different things (both big and small, very important and not as important) I put off doing because I sense a dearth of time.

But, I've started experimenting with starting projects that I don't think that I have enough time to accomplish, just to see how much time it really takes to get stuff done.  And, guess what? I'm getting a lot more stuff done.  And you know what else? I'm realizing that sometimes, my perception of how much time it takes to accomplish a task is fictional. In fact, it's a fantastic fable told over and over in my head.  And each day the tasks remains undone is another day the fable feels more and more true.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a good friend of mine.  He reminded me how much precious time is, and how much can be accomplished in a mere 60 seconds.  So, started experimenting with how many things I could do in sixty seconds.

Here's what I concluded.  In 60 seconds, you can:

• Listen to the traffic report on the radio
• Text a friend to see how they're doing
• Pray the Lord's Prayer
• Create a to-do list for the day, to maintain sanity
• Call your grandma just because (they love this)
• Update your facebook status
• Water your plants
• Take a swig (or many) from your water bottle
• Take a minute to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and just relax
• Clean your bathroom sink and counters (okay, it takes like 2 minutes, but you get the point)

There's SO MUCH that we can do (or not do) every minute!  And every day, we get 86,400 of them! 

Now I'm inspired to use my time more thoughtfully, considering carefully what I will and won't do with my daily minute allotment.