I don’t know when I first heard this statement, “Hustle while you wait”. It was in college or sometime in my early twenties. It was already something that I had put into practice. I called it don’t waste time. I carried a book and note cards with me everywhere I went, so that I could read or memorize something. I started doing this as a teen because in military life there was a lot of waiting. Get to the docs and wait for your appointment. Get to school and wait for class to start. Wait for the bus to base and for the one home. Wait for friends to arrive or my mom to pick me up.
I learned then that I could use my time more wisely when I had the right tools with me. It is now 0123 and I am working on a blog post because I couldn’t sleep. I have been on FB and Twitter seeing what is going on in the world and checking in with friends and getting updates. I have ideas that I just have to take time to capture so that I can work on them and make them a reality. Sometimes it is as simply as what I will talk about tomorrow morning … I mean this morning in my Morning Motivational video I do live on Facebook. Another time, it is a task that I need to complete sooner than later or a friend that I should reach out to and check in on.
There are a few times when I chose not practice this concept and that is mostly during family time. Family time is precious and much more limited as the boys grow and get into other activities and they start going their separate ways.
I still practice this habit whenever I have some “down time” between other tasks. I keep a pretty full set of apps on my phone since that is where I do 90% of my communication and work these days. My wife once commented on the number of apps on my phone and I was honestly able to answer. Stating that I use the all about once every two weeks or so. Admittedly, there are a few that don’t get opened up very much because they are specialized. I keep them around for that one time I need it.
The point I am trying to make is that we can fill our time more effectively if we have our tools on hand. Many artists carry around a sketchbook so that they can capture an idea when it comes. Whatever work you do and no matter what your field you are in; it would behove you to have those tools to make use of what otherwise would be wasted time.
iron wil
