Are you a time saver or a time waster?

• January 29 2020
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer/are-you-a-time-saver-or-a-time-waster-_184529

We are a planet of time-saving and time-wasting fanatics. Remember the tale about the race between the tortoise and the hare? While the arrogant hare goofed around and napped, the slow but steady tortoise crossed the finish line first.

In the days of old, consumers visited the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. They chatted, gossiped, and shared community news. Timeworn traditions turned into trends to save time as busyness bombarded us from sunrise to sunset because of progress.

And you can't stop progress. The telegraph, the telephone, the cellphone. The radio, the television, the Internet. Feet, horses, wagons. Bicycles, trains, automobiles. Planes, helicopters, rockets. Progress gave us electricity, indoor plumbing, and refrigeration. Did progress give us more time or less time?

The more technology advances, the busier we become. Hurry and scurry—obsessed with saving time. We wolf down meals to move on to do more: gobble, gulp, guzzle. According to World Health Organization 2017, more than $10 billion is spent worldwide each year on antacids. We eat stress and disrespect the time allotted to daily living.

Extreme Time Cheaters was a reality TV show about people who go to ultimate lengths to optimise time. Washing dishes in the shower, ironing shirts with the underside of a fresh brewed coffee pot, shaving legs while in the pool. Won't hair clog the pool filter?

Being more organised in order to find shoes, coats, hats, backpacks, purses, and other items in the morning is smart and gets families out the door quicker. Using a roadmap is about efficiency—getting lost in the jungle makes you a late dinner guest.

You won't catch me drinking coffee in the shower to save a minute or two—not my thing. However, I do own an undisclosed number of the same black socks. Why? Because the laundry monster eats one sock of the matching pair. So, I outsmart this sock-stealing fiend. Piling instead of filing can be a time waster for writers. Musing and rushing is counterproductive.