What do you like to do when not under pressure to do other things?

[Erudite]

"What do I like to do when I'm not under pressure to do other things?"

This is a question from the book What Matters Most by Hyrum Smith that he suggests in thinking about where you place your priorities for life. It has me really thinking about it...mostly because I'm a complete wastrel when I'm not under pressure to do other things. I don't feel like I choose my activities very well.

Does anyone feel like they do this well? What do you do? Is there something you've found that helps you feel like you're not wasting time when you actually have time to waste?

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Meticulous madness]

Good question!

Actually, I think the key word is "like" to do. ER, if you "like" to do nothing, when nothing is required of you...I don't think that's a bad thing. It seems to me, too, that many forms of nothingness are probably pretty productive in some way. Productivity is an 'eye of the beholder' thing, I suppose.

Don't you read a lot? Wouldn't that be considered something you do when other things aren't required of you? And the things you read seem interesting, educational and also self-bettering in nature. Personally, I would say that is incredibly productive.

Anyway, I know you meant this to be a thought-provoking question and not that you wanted me to argue with your post...but I just couldn't help myself.

As for my own answer...
I love cleaning and organizing, I love learning, I love active things and I love napping - when other things aren't required of me.

The cleaning sounds ridiculous, I know, but I do love it. I love it [especially] when it ISN'T required of me, or asked of me.

As an adult, I learned to love reading, too. That was a hard thing for me when I was young. I only read when I was forced. Strange to think about now.

[bookworm]

I agree that it's okay to do nothing sometimes.

How do you define a waste of time, E? That's the question. Is it a waste of time to do things you enjoy that are relaxing, fun, or only of minor benefit to others? I think it's refilling my bucket when I "waste" time on things I don't have to do.

I LOVE reading, of course, and I go through fiction and self-help phases, so sometimes I read for education and sometimes for entertainment. I really enjoy taking walks with family members. One of my most favorite leisure time activities is getting together with my siblings. I especially love researching stuff on the internet... I'm such a geek. I also enjoy family history quite a lot. In fact, my sons need names for the Trek temple trip next weekend, and I've jumped back in after a few years of not doing any family history and it's just as addicting as it was then. I LOVE it and would spend many many leisure hours doing it if I could.

My newest down-time activity has been my writing, which I would like to consider "work" but I really can't yet. I do waste hours doing it, but I don't really feel like they're wasted because it's so fulfilling to me.

It's interesting you would ask this, E, because I don't think I ever really THINK about what I want to do with my down time, I just fill it. It's good to think it through, I think. If we have free time, I guess we should be spending it on things of value, right? But that is very subjective. So it comes down to defining a "waste" of time. It also depends on what you consider "have/need to do"- on that list I include my scripture study and temple visits, more than consider those down-time activities...

For me wasting time includes: standing in lines, spending hours working on a project only to have it collapse or be cancelled at the last minute, waiting for someone to arrive or call- just waiting, some meetings, waiting for downloads that end up not working anyway, etc.

Time is like money- I try to be careful and aware of where I am spending it... I like to feel like I get a lot for my dollar, also for my hour...

[Erudite]

I appreciate your thinking and even "arguing" (which it wasn't), MM and BW!

Ok first...the big confession. HOURS a week of Spider Solitaire. That is OFFICIALLY wasting time no matter how you define it. Nothing productive...pure escapism. However, I've only played ONE game in the last 3 days, so I'm doing much better! And that is because I, like BW, have started actually thinking about my "down time" and how I fill it. I do NOT value Spider Solitaire, thus it should not get ANY of my valuable time. (That's the book talking, but it helps to think along those lines.)

I do read a lot and I would never consider that wasted time. It is a much better escape than computer games. It is a good use of my time. I also crochet a lot (I'm almost done with my FIRST sweater for myself...woohoo!) when I'm watching TV, so TV time isn't wasted time either. MM, you're not weird for liking to clean!! I like to clean too. I love things to be organized.

BW, I'm so EXCITED to hear you're writing so much!! That's something I really need to be doing more of. I'm also an internet researcher and family history nut. So when I do those, I'm definitely not wasting time.

OK! I'm feeling better about this! It sure does help just to think it out, yes?

PS I also like posting to this board when not under pressure! You can tell pressure in my life when I go silent here...lol

[5ft Diva]

It's interesting....I sat here thinking of all the down time I've wasted trying to do things that were productive when I was meant to relax instead. Yes, you heard me right. I waste down time because I use it to catch up. Basically, when it comes to this kind of thing, I feel like I can't really relax because I am "in debt". I am working this month on getting that taken care of so that when I have down time I get to choose my activity of relaxation.

Sometimes that's gardening, cleaning, watching a movie, reading. A lot of time is spent w/ my younger kids and I'm actually really happy to have found that out about myself as I started to reflect on this and I would love to find ways to spend more quality time w/ my older kids.

So after pondering on this I realized that time is my currency and I need to make sure I have a positive balance and not a negative one and I do that by not over extending myself. Think I can do it? ....not over-extend myself????

[Erudite]

Originally Posted by 5ft Diva

Yes, you heard me right. I waste down time because I use it to catch up. Basically, when it comes to this kind of thing, I feel like I can't really relax because I am "in debt". I am working this month on getting that taken care of so that when I have down time I get to choose my activity of relaxation.

Interesting thoughts. My to-do list is HUGE right now because I've put everything I've been thinking of doing and putting off on the list. There is a lot of backstory for doing that, but here on day 3 of summer, I too want to really get the list accomplished, so that I can focus on other things.

However, as you know, I have to be super careful about not extending myself. So while I want to keep moving forward in crossing off each item on the list, I also know that I NEED the down time. I'm a better person for not going crazy with the "to do"s of my life anyway. And while some of the list can be done once and crossed off and never thought about again, much of it is recurring. I'll have to do it again tomorrow. So with that thought, I have let myself be ok with not getting more than a few items of the list complete.

And further, when I'm not under pressure, I can choose to work on my list OR do other valuable things with my time. I'm finding a lot of peace in having a list that I know I've worked on, but also in knowing that I can work on it tomorrow too.

[natickgirl]

Read, facebook, read, BnS, read, watch a great DVD that I know DH would't watch with me, read, go for a swim or bike ride, read, chat with a good friend on the phone, read, bake something yummy, and read. Yup. That about sums it up.

[Erudite]

So, NG? Do you like to read?

[5ft Diva]

E, clearly you run into the same problem w/ a lack of energy when you do too much that I run into w/ my time when I do too much. Same thing. At least I see it that way. I think if we all looked at our own personal situations we'd find that we're all using different methods, but are in very similar situations.