How are you wasting your time?
Posted on June 29, 2010 by Tom
I like Umberto Eco, not (only) because he’s a great writer, historian, philosopher or critic, but because he’s all of that at the same time. He finds a way to perform hugely time-consuming tasks and have a great life at the same time and still finds time to fulfil his duties at the university.
How does he do it? At an interview a few years ago he admitted he hates wasting time. Everything has to mean something. If he waits for his dinner to come, he writes some notes. When the journalist was on his way in the elevator, in that tine, Umberto looked something up in a dictionary and wrote it down.
Some people would get stressed by that way of life, but these people probably get stressed by a neverending to do list. They feel they need a break from all the rush work they have to do. But Umberto Eco isn’t rushing anything. Just like a runner, he just found his pace in life and sticks to it as much as he can. No need to go faster or you’ll run out of oxygene, no need to run slower or you’ll loose a race that you could’ve won.
Think about what you’re doing in you spare moments. If you could eliminate just one thing, what would it be? If you could use that time for something else, what would you spend it on? And why aren’t you?
