It’s Hard to Sit Still

Annie OakleyHave you ever tried to sit completely still? Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Just grab the remote and veg out in front of the tv. Haven’t we all done that at one time or another? Nothing wrong with that. We all need a break now and then.

Now flip to the the end of the spectrum…ever had moments where you can’t sit still? Happens to me all the time. I can’t just sit and not do anything. It’s hard! Even if my physical body isn’t moving, my mind is going 90 miles an hour and I’m probably thinking about all the things I could be doing if I weren’t just sitting there. The worst case scenario for me is to be stuck someplace where I have to just sit and be attentive – ugh! If I am not interested or I can’t participate, at least grant me permission to get lost in my own thoughts. That is an adventure in itself. ;)

Today’s chance words of wisdom come from Annie Oakley, who claims:

“For me, sitting still is harder than any kind of work.”

Oh, Annie – I can so relate! I would much rather have my nose to the grindstone and feel that I am moving forward with my goals, than to be stuck in an unproductive situation. While it may sound like I’m on the fast track to workaholics anonymous, let me explain a little trend that I’ve noticed.

I work from home. This means I control my schedule and whether I accept interruptions or not. I can choose to crank away at my work all day or I can choose to do mindless activities that are not the least bit productive. Being a schedule freak, I can look back over the week and see which days were good and which days were bad in terms of what I accomplished.

A few months ago I started making mental notes about how my time was being spent and how productive I was. I was also trying to track my sleeping patterns to see if I needed more or less sleep to function. I won’t bore you with the details of my research, but jump right to the conclusion. On the days I felt I the productivity pendulum in full swing, I discovered I needed less sleep to recharge. The sluggish days where I slacked off seemed to wear me out and I found myself wanting more sleep. Sounds crazy, but it’s true!

Now I didn’t just make this little theory up. It’s actually embedded in psychological fact somewhere and I’m sure it has a fancy name to boot. The bottom line is that achieving your goals releases energy and pushes you to want to achieve more and more. Annie Oakley knew that. It is no wonder she became the first American superstar.

***Personal Note: The bonus in my experiment (which wasn’t exactly planned and executed like a science project, but rather happened out of a necessity I like to call “life”) is that I discovered I could get away with one less hour of sleep than I normally granted myself. I learned through trial and error how much was enough and what kind of activities (working out, creative time, mental and social time) recharged me and how much of each would drain me. It has been a long process, but I’m getting the hang of it and starting to rework my schedule to be the optimum level for me personally. Everything is being evaluated and I’m making some decisions on what stays and what goes.  It can’t be perfect, but it can be improved. Maybe I’ll post more on that soon.

7 comments

  • I CAN SO RELATE TO THAT. IT IS MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE. EVEN THOUGH MY SIS TOUGHT ME HOW TO JUST TWIDDLE MY THUMBS, I CANT HELP NOT SITTING STILL.;) (BY THE WAY, YOU SHOULD READ THE BIOGRAPHY ON ANNIE OAKLEY, IT IS AMAZING!=d>

  • WHAT???????? :-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?

  • That’s a great point about the laundry schedule. However, my kids (or at least ONE of my kids) are younger, and right now I’m just trying to get them to fold and put away their own laundry. (Yeah…wish me luck! :)) )
    I usually plan a few meals per week, too, or I at least make mental notes of different meal possibilities and write down the ingredients so I know that at the last minute, I can whip up something fairly quick. (And unlike you, I am just starting to use my crock pot a bit more. ;) )

    Oh how I wait for the day when my children can DO their own laundry! :D

  • A

    Well I will be the first to say that planning is pointless if you try to fine tune it down to the minute. I think we both have the general idea about what needs to be done (the “big stuff”) – we just have different means to the same end. :D

    One thing I do love about planning is that I have lots of contingency options. For example I can plan 5-6 meals for the week, but I don’t really know which nights we’ll have which meal. Sometimes we end up going out with friends who call at the last second (I think you know who THOSE people are ;) ) or we just do frozen pizza because I’m dealing with client emergencies and short on time. I like having options. b-)

    One other thing I do like about my obsessiveness with laundry schedules and such is that my entire family knows the schedule. They KNOW when they have to have their stuff in the hamper and when their floors need to be picked up for vacuuming, etc. They also know the consequences of missing my deadlines. Their stuff doesn’t get washed or cleaned. No exceptions. [-(

  • You’re right–I would think that I was watching a really bad replay of “The Body Snatchers.” =))

    You are more scheduled than most people, but that’s just who you are. I guess the way I look at it is, if I accomplished school with my kids, kept my house in a halfway decent order, and got dinner fixed, then it was a really good day. ;) Seriously…that’s how I have to gauge it, because nothing EVER goes as I have planned it, because someone will have a meltdown or a problem, school will take double the time it should due to poor attitudes in my children, or I’ll get up feeling ill, or whatever.
    I have learned that for me, I know what is most crucial on my schedule and I get “the big stuff” done. I leave the small things for another day if I can.
    I don’t schedule my laundry days ( ;) ), I don’t schedule my “use of dishwasher” days, I don’t plan my meals out a week in advance, etc. Maybe my life would be easier if I did, but the way I am, I think I would end up being more frustrated with my “created” demands on myself. I have enough trouble dealing with the ones that get thrown my way.

  • A

    OK cut me some slack – I don’t write out every minute of my day. /:) Maybe it sounds nicer if I say I have a “routine” to fit everything in. :> Notice at the bottom I said it’s not perfect, but I can improve it. ;)

    You wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t analyze everything. b-)

  • Wow. Just…wow.

    I mean, I didn’t think that people like the dad in the old movie “Cheaper By the Dozen” really existed (he was an efficiency expert), but apparently they do. ;) He had his shower down to a science, too–like, how many times he would scrub in the shower for optimum efficiency.
    Which, in my opinion, bordered on OCD. :))

    You are far more disciplined than I could ever be in this area because, frankly, the thought of writing out every moment of my day literally nauseates me. =)) (And with my kids at home, there is no way in Hades that I could actually KEEP the schedule the way I wanted it. Too many interruptions which need tending to (not just ringing phones or visitors).

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