PaperWork: Next time you’re ‘wasting time’ … maybe try to enjoy it

The clock was nudging noon. Then I had to laugh at my first thought.

I spent the morning reading the final chapters of a book I was gifted – a self-help book. I set the book down. Inside were several notes I made. And so the stage was set for a bit of irony.

I noted the time – 11:43 a.m. Then BAM, my immediate thought I shared out loud with Tucker who was sleeping at my feet.

“Well, looks like I wasted half a day already,” I lamented ... to myself. (Tucker did not care.)

“Wasted.” Yep, that thought was wrapped in the usual guilt I feel as morning slides into afternoon. A guilt I carry as luggage to remind me of what I should be unpacking – all those important things I should be doing.

I am having these guilt pains right after I finish a book all about how such feelings keep me from enjoying life. A life that is finite and limited, stresses Oliver Burkeman, author of the book, “Meditations for Mortals, Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts.”

I had stepped back into a routine he says is the root of the stress and frustration many of us feel over unfinished goals.

The book makes sense. His advice makes sense. But seconds after I put the book down, I fell into the trap.

The trap is that constant drive to have complete control over each hour of my day, my week, my life. To never lose sight of my goals that I should be working tirelessly toward. To focus on what’s important.

But what I have decided is “important” is not always what’s important, says Burkeman. His philosophy begins with the understanding that a to-do list is never completely done.

“You’ll never get on top of everything,” he says. “You’ll never feel fully confident about the future, or fully understand what makes other people tick – and that there will always be too much to do.”

There’s that plus the simple fact that none of us live forever so we should stop letting future worry destroy our present.

Goals are important. To-do lists can be helpful, but look at how you burn up the present for something in the future.

Burkeman offers a lot of good advice on how to keep joy in your daily life – the present. He makes one point I already have found helpful.

Think of something you can do today that you really want to do. It’s probably not on your to-do list. But let go of the demands of the day and do it. Afterward, those other tasks look different.

“The truth is that completion replenishes energy rather than using it up. So getting into the habit of finishing what you start creates fuel for further meaningful productivity,” Burkeman says.

Plus you get to define what “finishing” means – easy, reachable tasks.

He makes an interesting point about making choices. Do this or do that? What’s important is not the choice but the consequences. That’s what we must be willing to accept. And yes, choosing to do nothing is a choice with consequences.

At some point, we also need to deal with those choices churning in our gut. They are hard to ignore.

“Never mind what you want,” Burkeman says. “What does life want?”

He is referring to “life tasks” or something your life is asking of you that likely will be challenging but personally rewarding.

For many years British author Burkeman wrote a column for The Guardian newspaper on psychology, “This Column Will Change Your Life.” Meditations for Mortals is a guide to what he calls “imperfectionism” or how to embrace the limitations in life, which he details also through “The Imperfectionist,” an email newsletter.

I have barely touched on his many eye-opening observations that I still need to digest. Including that important reminder on the day I finished his book.

Spending the morning reading his book – or any book – is not a waste of time. Time that belongs to me.

• Lonny Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a reporter for The Herald-News in Joliet in the 1970s. His PaperWork email is lonnyjcain@gmail.com. Or mail The Times, 110 W. Jefferson St., Ottawa, IL 61350.