I think that I am a pretty busy person. Everyone’s definition of busy will vary of course. Some people occupy there time with lots of different activities or hobbies, and that is what keeps them busy. Others might only focus on their job or their education and do absolutely nothing else, no hobbies or interests at all, yet they are so immersed in it that they remain busy. Then there are those who aren’t busy at all. They may work and have other interests and hobbies, but at the end of the day they have loads of time to just sit around and watch TV or watch the paint dry. Here is my current list of activities
I hope I’m not forgetting anything too important. I left out some of the parts of day to day life that we all do, whether we consider ourselves busy or not. Eating, showering in the morning, staying in touch with our friends and family, etc, these are things that I would hope pretty much everyone does, but on average it doesn’t determine if someone is busy or not.
From the list above you can see that not all of the activities are a specific task, but they are things that I value. The first three are pretty straight forward. Work, exercising and grad school all are concrete actions that involve going to a specific location and performing a specific action for a specific amount of time. If you read my blog regularly, you know that I actually exercise at home. But it’s still a specific task. Stacy and I did buy bikes recently though, so now some of these can blur together. Time with my wife and exercising can be done at the same time when we go out for bike rides. Time with my dog, can also overlap on occasion, doesn’t involve any specific task or any specific time, but I would say that over the course of a week, it’s important to me that I spend some quality time with both Stuart and Stacy Again, I value this time above other things.
Blogging is something that more recently has gained value to me. I really do thoroughly enjoy writing, and since I don’t get to do so via any other method, here we are. Right now, writing to me serves multiple purposes. It is a means of relaxation, it keeps my skills as a writer sharp, and allows me to articulate what I am interested in to a broader audience. In terms of how it fits into my schedule, it is basically something that I do when I don’t have to do something else that I’ve already mentioned. I can’t write at work, school or while exercising. And its hard to write while riding a bike or while out for a dog walk.
Being a landlord is something that I don’t have much choice in the matter these days. I own two properties, both of which have tenants in them which require my attention from time to time. This is one of those things, that if all goes well, the only time it takes for this is to go to the bank once a month to deposit the checks, but doesn’t that sound too good to be true? In reality, when things do need my attention, it can be a handful since both properties are on the East coast, therefore a time zone three hours earlier than where I am.
Last and certainly not least is investing. As if my brain needs anything else to occupy its time, I am thinking about ways to make money via investing all the time. To make matters worse, I am actively investing for my father as well. Stock ideas, option strategies, corporate and municipal bonds, nothing is out of scope. This is where my brian basically acts like a vacuum, sucking up information to process from every possible medium. I watch CNBC, I read financial web sites and blogs, I read books on the subject. If it involves a way to turn a dollar into something worth more than a dollar, than I am interested in it.
The main reason I point out all of the things on this list that keep me busy, is that a year ago the list would have been shorter but I was still a busy person. I started exercising regularly in February, I started school in June, and while i’ve had this blog for a few years, only within the year have I really been writing regularly for it. It seems that the more you do, the more you can do. The more you fill up your life with activities, the more you can accomplish. This may seem like common sense, but many people make the excuse that they don’t have time for _________. In reality, if they just start doing it, they will find that they have the time.
So what are you doing?
