Sep 27

Sep 27 Adding Value to In-Between Time

When was the last time you just sat and contemplated something? Or sat in silence for five minutes? In today’s society, it seems that whenever we have a dull moment to just sit and breathe, we grab our phones to easily entertain us.

I was inspired to write this because I am always fascinated by what people choose to do with their “in-between” time while traveling. Either waiting at the airport or on the plane. Recently, I was on a 6 hour flight where the family in front of me played various games on the screen for the entirety of the flight. It blew my mind that they could be entertained for that long with such a mindless activity. But then it dawned on me - so many of us actually want to be mindless at times.

Interestingly enough, my absolute favorite thing about flying is actually engaging in my thoughts. I love getting lost in the sky and disconnecting from my phone. I am free to download anything and everything that’s happening in my life and review those thoughts to decide just exactly how I feel about it all. It’s like getting an uninterrupted block of time dedicated to do this.

Being so far from reality actually brings me to reality.

If you could calculate all the in-between time you filled with scrolling social media or playing games - how much time would you have? Five minutes here, ten minutes there. Adding all those moments together, you could actually have accomplished something meaningful.

I’ve always been an overachiever, so a lot of times I like to multitask to feel like I’m accomplishing a lot. This means that even during the daily task of putting on makeup, I’m eating breakfast, and listening to a podcast all at the same time.

If you find yourself in an in-between moment, here are some thoughts on how to add value to those moments:

Call a family member to show you're thinking of them
Continue writing something you started
Engage your airplane seat mate
Greet someone in the Starbucks line
Turn on a podcast
Write your grocery list
Start looking at that work report you’ve been avoiding
Check the news

I really liked this article by Fast Company for a busy working person. It shows more practical ways to make those wasteful moments in a day more purposeful.

I hope this inspires you that even during the times you feel you won’t be able to accomplish much, there are viable routes to take that can make those moments valuable.