4 Minutes

I am a pretty efficient person. I usually pick stuff up every time I leave a room and make sure things end up back where they belong. I am good at doing two or three things at once, and find ways to make use of waisted time, such as putting laundry away or doing dishes during commercials. (Don't even get me started on how much less I get done now that we DVR everything! I have started letting the commercials run just so I can get a few little chores done here and there.)

From the number of mommy/parenting blogs I read I'm getting the idea that these habits will come in handy after Sky is here.

I got to thinking last night I wonder how much I can get done in 4 minutes. Why 4 minutes...well that is how long I heat my water in the microwave when I make myself a cup of tea. Usually while it is heating I just stand there and daydream, think, scratch my back on the corner of the wall, decide what color I'm going paint my toe nails next...you get the idea. I kill time instead of make the best use of it.

Well last night I decided to start unloading the dishwasher not expecting to have time to put all the dishes away, but thought it would be nice to get a start on it. Well when the timer went off after 4 minutes I had put all the dishes away, washed the "good" chefs knives by hand and re-loaded the top shelf of the dishwasher. That is a lot of stuff to get done in just 4 minutes!

I was kind of surprised and sort of proud of myself for getting so much done in so little time. It did make me wonder though why unloading the dishwasher when I was a kid seemed like such a huge task...but that is for another post.

I may start practicing to figure out just how many tasks can be accomplished in only 4 minutes. When I'm tired from multiple feedings in the middle of the night I may only be able to keep my eyes open for 4 minutes at a time and want to make the best use of it!