"Busyness..."

Last week, the "Healthy Living" section of our local paper featured an article "Are Our Lives Really Too Busy? Sleeping, Working, easting, Exercising...There Is Not Enough Time In the Day...BUNK!"

"Why do Yuppies Always Feel Tired (we have even classified run-down symptoms as Yuppie Syndrome!)?"

 

This "hit home" with me!  I have always felt that the more one puts on their plate, the more efficient one becomes at accomplishing!  I have been known to express that "there is plenty of time to rest...ultimately"!  I found that eating small meals and keeping "hydrated" throughout the day allowed me to keep going with three hours sleep per night.  Friends urged me to slow down, for fear of me getting ill.  And with a weakened immune system from Myrsa Staph Infection after cancer scare lymph node removal surgery...and tomorrow I have my last day of ten weeks of daily Monday to Friday radiation for prostate cancer...this has proven to be true.

 

Our current 24-7, instantaneous communication technology-driven lives have enveloped a lot of what would have leisure and sleep time.   Between my office (architecture, real estate and management careers) and home computers, and even with Spam blockers, it is not unusual to receive a few hundred e-mails a day!    The Harvard professor featured in the article, stated that 80% of what is received is "c_ _ p!", and he advised to only handle e-mails once whenever possible.  "Time-tracking" is a good tool.  I determined that to get paid for one small architectural addition, I had 122 e-mails back and forth with the client!  At 10 minutes each times an hourly billable rate of $160 per hour, this unbilled time was worth $3,904, and expended one 24 hour day of time!

 

For time management, he continued to prioritize, avoid procrastination, and for middle-aged adults to eat well,and sleep at least eight hours per night.

 

I managed to increase my sleep to six hours per night, and continue with a limited version of my anti-oxidant regimen, during my recent treatment.  And the "state of our country's (and world) economy" has (somewhat) reduced my work load, but other's impression of my life is that it remains about three times as busy as the majority of those my age...and realistically this is part of my persona, and for the time being probably won't change too much!  But, my goal is to re-implement as many "smart" time management aids as possible...