At a conference this past weekend, someone questioned how wisely we all use our off-time. They were referencing a particularly easy maintenance operation for WordPress-based websites (click “update” to update to the latest version) and the fact that few people follow through.
So who here hasn’t upgrade yet? Wow. Really? OK, why not?
I was busy.
Yeah, Lost was pretty good this season. Not a whole lot of time to click a button …
We were all being a bit playful and sarcastic, but he brought up a really good point. What exactly do we do in our off-time? I tracked how much time I say waiting though commercials last night as I watched TV … and I was upset. I lost a good 15 minutes each hour of otherwise perfectly good time. Two television shows each night amounts to a half hour of wasted productivity.*
(*Please note that I’m counting TV-watching time as “productive.” In the context of many work-a-holics, crashing on the couch and not working for longer than 5 minutes amounts to a full-fledged vacation.)
To put this in perspective, I also did some client work last night. In 30 minutes I was able to:
- Update a client’s website
- Write a project proposal for a new client
- Prepare invoices for two completed projects
- Write a blog entry
Unfortunately, because I took a break to watch TV last night, none of this actually happened before 11pm. This makes me that much more grateful for my laptop, which will now be sitting couch-side so I can work if so inspired in between segments. Just think, I might get to bed at a reasonable hour and still get to rot my brain with smart television!
Spending off-time doing something other than work is a good thing. Whether that “something other” is watching TV, reading a book, landscaping, or playing in a band, off-time spent in relaxation is still productive (at least it will make you more productive when you get back to work). In this context, how much of your off-time is wasted while you wait for your off-time activities to start? How many commercials do you sit idly through when you could be doing something else?
On the up-side, my DVR will be getting much more use as I now record my shows so I can fast-forward through commercials.
