Scheduled or Unscheduled Down Time - Otherwise Known as Waiting an article I wrote in August 2010

For this article I was paid 4.29 upfront. This is a non-exclusive article that I wrote back in 2010.



http://voices.yahoo.com/scheduled-unscheduled-down-time-6350228.html?cat=3




Scheduled or Unscheduled Down Time - Otherwise Known as Waiting



The problem with waiting is -- "the waiting." Well this is not necessarily a problem if you don't have long to wait or you have an abundance of patience.



But truthfully most of us these days really don't have an abundance of patience, and most people really dislike waiting. Some of us may even have a very real aversion to waiting for any reason.



But be what it may, most everyone will find themselves waiting for one reason or another. So it's best to learn patience early. As I've often told my children "patience is a virtue, and it is wise to learn this early". The reason to learn patience early is so you don't continually waste time later on as you "hurry" to get here, there or yonder. Or waste time fixing things that you may have broken or finding things you've lost when you were in a hurry at another time.



Really when you expend a lot of energy rushing to do anything, or even to get anywhere, what happens is you end up not getting as much done as you would really like to get done. You also do not get done as much as you may be capable of doing.



So instead of wasting time running in circles, there are some things that you may find helpful to do when you find yourself waiting for an extended period of time.



For example the next time you find yourself "waiting", in an office or lobby of some kind. You could save yourself time and aggravation later by making a list of what you need to do later on. You could write a grocery list and menu for example, or you could write out what you need to get done later in the day or week. You may even be able to go over a previous "to do" list and check off what you have already done.



Writing out a "to do" list when you are stuck learning "the virtues of patience", will help you to stay focused on more than just the boredom of waiting. Going over finished tasks on your "to do" list will also give you a sense of accomplishment.



There are other things you can do also when you happen to find yourself waiting in a waiting room some place or other. You may even find the times you must spend waiting are good times to just stop, and rest a little while. Doing absolutely nothing at all, as most things we rush to do can wait a few minutes, with the exceptions of life-threatening emergencies that is.



Waiting is something we all have to do throughout our lives, so we can either grump and complain, or we can make the most of our "scheduled" or "unscheduled" waiting times.