When we bought our house, the bar for our towels in the master bathroom was pretty far from the shower. I didn’t think much of it but every day I would take the towel from the bar, walk it to our shower and when I was done, I’d fold it so it looked nice and neat - it was one of the first things you would see when you walk into our bathroom. The other day, Chad was doing some home improvements and he took the bar down and put two hooks closer to the shower. I thought they looked great but didn’t think much of it. The next day, when I was done getting ready I hung up the towel and realized something was different.
Then it hit me - the original towel bar required me to stop and fold the towel while the new hooks took no time because I was able to just hang them. A few seconds isn’t a big deal, but it had me wondering - how much time am I losing each day to small, minuscule tasks that take seconds or even minutes? In reality, that time adds up.
That was two weeks ago and since then I’ve observed a bunch of things that just waste time - here are a few:
- When emptying the dishwasher, instead of drying the dishes with water still on them, I’ve been letting them air dry and dealing with them later.
- Instead of making an extra trip downstairs, I’ve been setting aside things that need to go down in a basket and bring them down all at once
- If I have calls to make, I’ve been clustering them so I don’t need to think about them in between meetings.
- I’ve embraced wearing a cute baseball hat instead of spending 30 minutes blow-drying my hair on days when I have a lot to do.
- Instead of checking when the laundry is done, I’ve been setting timers so I don’t waste trips up and down the stairs
The list goes on, but even that list can save me over an hour a day! I’m sure if you made it this far you are already thinking of some minor things that you can start or stop doing that would save you some time at the end of your day too.
Time is the most precious commodity and I think sometimes we get wrapped up in the day to day and we overlook the small things we do that are pretty inefficient. As we can into the new year, I know resolutions tend to be lofty and grandiose - so what if you try to evaluate what small resolutions look like in your life that when added together can make a big difference?
Thanks for reading!
