How many of us calculate into the equation the amount of time it takes to start the task, actually doing it and then cleaning up?   I know I never did. One example is mowing the lawn.  

When I mow my lawn the actual time to mow is one hour. I have a section that I bag.  It is the nicer parts of my lawn that have grass.  I use the grass clippings for my flower gardens.  This takes approximately 45 minutes to mow and spread grass clippings.  This doesn’t include picking up sticks that have fallen from the trees and water hoses that have to be reeled up. It is just the mowing and spreading grass clippings.  There is also the time it takes to open my shed, remove other gardening items in order to get to my lawn mower.  Those two tasks probably take me 5 minutes depending on how many sticks are in the yard. 

After I get to the point of all of the above, I usually have to take a break before I finish mowing the areas without the bag.  That time depends on how hot it is outside.  Today was hot and humid.  Today I have had to take an hour break before I could finish.  I got over heated and had to come in to drink some electrolytes and I stuck my head under the kitchen sink faucet to run cold water on my head to cool me off.  I am sure glad there were no dishes in the sink and that mine was empty and shiny.

 Luckily what I have left is in front and by the shed so I had better go and finish mowing the yard so I can clean up.  I am going to time myself and finish this blog with the time it took.  I think it is important for us to realize some things do take longer than we calculate because we forget about the clean up time.

Time to mow the second half without the bag on the lawnmower, clean up by cleaning under the mower, putting it back in the shed so I could put the rest of the items back and then hook up the hose to the garden soaker hose?  It took me 35 minutes.  So when someone asks me how long it takes to mow the lawn, next time I will calculate preparation time, actual time, break time, actual time again, clean up time and hooking the hose back up to the vegetable garden. I will remember not to be so hard on myself thinking all I got done was my morning routine, part of my afternoon routine, mowing the lawn and my before bedtime routine.  

It is time to be more realistic when doing tasks like mowing the lawn.  Will I procrastinate next time I have to mow the lawn?  No.  I just have to also factor in that the days are getting shorter!
Dance Till You FLY! mw
Marilyn