At the atomic level, the glass is 99.99% empty space. Hope this helps. ―
This month I have spent time thinking about the opposite of my word and while there are many antonyms for full, but I have focused on empty this month… and what is lacking, missing, needing a bit more of.
And I also considered what is overly full…overflowing as it were.
Of course the list of empty is significant… but perhaps that is always the case. After all, we gravitate to the things that we like, things we do best, things that are easy… so yes, there is lots that is empty.
But in making my list, I discovered that there are some things that are empty because not because I don’t like those things… but rather it is because I am not making time for them.
And once I got to the time quotient… oh boy. Yeah. I began to look at my empty and full minutes, and you know what… I waste lots and lots of time. Doomscrolling is the main culprit… Open app and before you know it an hour has just vanished…Hello Twitter, IG, and even web browsing (looking for recipes is a category unto itself…sigh) I am looking at you.
Now, I do not believe that cramming every single thing you can into your number of waking minutes equals a satisfied fullness… sadly, I think it is the exact opposite. You know… the full you feel after Thanksgiving Dinner Full… too much, uncomfortable, ready for a nap full that might be good once a year, but on a daily basis… hoo boy, not how I want my minutes to feel like. Instead of trying to cram more in… I have stepped back and really examined why I am wasting time… i.e. what am I really avoiding.
Yeah, that… avoidance is such an insidious thing!
And so this month I began to look at my day and how I spend it. Actually, I began thinking about this way back in January, but I have really spent time tweaking it more this month.
I am not a fan of lists, although I always had a lengthy list of “must do’s” and… confession time… so many things I put on the list always got moved to the next week because they were not completed. And those things just kept moving from list to list… but!! I had them on a list, and sadly, that is as far as it went.
So back in January I began trying a new way of “list making”… and it is having some good success, especially with the tweaks I have made this month! My new lists… “start” – “progress” – “finish”
When I began this in January I was of the mindset that each list needed to have the same amount of things… balanced, as it were… Oh boy, that was a big wake up! By the end of January… Progress and Finish were not having much success, and they kept growing…and approaching the the same result of what I was trying to get away from… lists that exist, but they are perpetual… same things, different week.
So I started by not putting anything on my Start List… it was gloriously empty. Which allowed me to work on Progress and Finish…with much greater success.
And suddenly, the lists are no longer the enemy… they are becoming partners in making my time count for something better than being wasted.
A month with less empty minutes is a very good thing! (and I hope that this leads to days that are more full!)
I want to thank Carolyn profoundly this month… she has kept her link up open even for very late stragglers (me!) But really, you should go and see what others have learned this month in their word journey!
See you all back here on Wednesday!
I think you’re onto something here will how we fill our hours and minutes and how what we fill them with can impact our feelings. I’m glad to hear that your lists are working better for you!
You definitely have company in wasting time and relegating things to lists! I like your new list approach and am glad that it’s working out for you. My main focus lately has been to really clean things out, so I’ve started not making lists. I just clean out and when I’ve done enough of that for a day, I look around and see what else needs to be done. I don’t think it will work long term, but it’s good for now. I wish you the best with satisfied fullness and less wasted time in the next month!
Sounds like you’ve come upon a system that works for you! I’m not a list maker at all, but I can see times where a list might have merit for me. I don’t feel as though I waste much time at all…when I do it is typically daydreaming which I don’t honestly consider a waste. But…having said that, I am going to pay more attention to my days and see what I learn.
I adore lists and I don’t think I could function without them. I’m glad you found a way to tweak your list to make it workable for you – that’s the real key to success! I think some scrolling is good, it gives our minds a rest, but doomscrolling and endless scrolling (Hello TikTok) can really take up a LOT of time.
doomscrolling can be to our minds what empty calories are to our stomachs … I find that limiting my time online is a huge win all around!
Lots of food for thought here Kat. I recently heard or read somewhere about keeping a list of “could dos” and then checking in at the end of the day to see what was accomplished. Sometimes I have a list but generally keep more of a weekly plan – it’s a throwback to my teaching lesson plans.
I love what you’ve said about examining how you use your time. There’s a balance between using our time WELL and cramming it with every little thing. And I like that you are pressing pause on starting new projects and planning out how to find moments for progress and finishing things. It sounds like a great way to open up new space — on your lists and in your day!
“Cramming” and “overflowing” really popped out here–and pulled me back to them. (I’ve been doing lectio divina–can you tell?!) And they felt…”mindless”! (In that Thanksgiving Full way you wrote about.) And yet “empty” felt so welcome…space made for what matters to you. Leaving the Start List empty–i.e., leaving yourself white space–feels like a significant light bulb (and especially so early in the year!).
(Really love that Start, Progress, Finish list, btw. Such a wise way.)
I just finished reading Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, and I think it would be terrific book for you right now — a great complement to EXACTLY what you’re finding with your word-work. It’s a quick and easy read — and, really, just what you’re looking for. XOXO
Hi kat…did you ask about the gargoyle?
It is not mine, but I found one on ebay. Search gargoyle on a motorcycle statue
Really interesting observations on full and empty/ overflowing. No we don’t need to fill every minute of every day, and downtime is good if it doesn’t cause problems like doomscrolling, far too easy at the moment. I have huge big list of things to do, but budget and time has meant I need to set priorities, and that has helped.
my lists change all the time. It depends on what HAS to be done and what I would LIKE to be done. That changes all the time. I’ve always been a list maker and it’s always on paper with a pretty pen.