I'm not busy.

Two weeks ago I started my anti-procrastination strategy and bought a diary to record where I was spending my time.

Now I've done the accounts and these were my suprises:

Excercise (cross-country cycling + walking dog) = 10 hours/week;
MSN with family/friends = 8 hours/week;
Dinner out with friends = twice/week.

No matter that the rest of the time was spend working on projects and I am on holiday - it was more time off than I thought.

Shawn over at Anecdote refers to "the busy-ness meme", which I recognise that I subscribe to:

"Hi. How's it going?"
"Soooo busy."

He wonders what would happen if we said: “I have a bit of free time at the moment. It’s just the way I like it.”

And I wonder how much I make myself a prisoner of time by constantly talking about the lack of it. I certainly make myself bored by talking about it!

So I've made my decision. I am not going to refer any more to my busy-ness; I'm going to develop alternative language that refer to pleasure and time off. Here are some of the alternatives for my new repertoire:

> Hi. How's it going:

1. Fine thanks. And you?
2. Wonderful thanks. I had a great cycle ride this morning.
3. It's going very well. I've had some time for reflection this week.
4. I'm fine thank you. The Serra is looking beautiful at the moment. All the flowers are out.
5. Very well. I've been enjoying the varanda lately.
6. I'm well, and you? Very busy? Pity ... I've been enjoying some wonderfully relaxing moments.

After all, I have all the tools, a fast computer with high-speed connection to the Internet, and applications that help me do things quicker than ever before. Therefore I must have more time!!

Tags: anti-procrastination