Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Works For Me Wednesday: Patience

Here's what...


Counting seconds.

It seems I get annoyed when something wastes my time. And lots of things do, like: downloading web pages, holding down the button while my washing machine door locks, changing diapers, loading the dishwasher, etc.

So...this is what I do to remind myself that I'm being impatient and had I lived a hundred years ago, I would have had it MUCH harder. I count the second or minutes each task takes. This helps me to realize that it isn't all that bad and that I would do well to remember that "patience is a virtue". The following is the amount of time it takes to complete certain tasks whose slowness annoy me.

-Downloading my web page: 19 seconds (I know it's because of the graphics and background, but I just can't seem to let those go.)
-Holding the button down on my washing machine while the door locks: 3 seconds
-Changing a diaper: 89 seconds
-Sweeping the kitchen floor: 14 minutes
-Loading the dishwasher: 4 minutes


-Folding a load of laundry: average 6 minutes (I throw the kids' (ages 6 and up) clothes in baskets for them to worry about.)
-Taking the toddler to the potty: 2 minutes


-Reading the toddler "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" before nap time: 3 minutes



-Putting away my peanut butter and jelly supplies: 24 seconds
-Driving the kids to school and back home: 7 minutes
-Wiping baby fingerprints off the front of the stainless steel dishwasher: 4 seconds



See? Life isn't really that hard. Patience...patience...

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13 comments:

Tereza said...

Totally...thanks for that reminder:)

Jennifer said...

I get highly annoyed at having to wait on little things too. I think i will try your method, hopefully it will make me more patient.

Anonymous said...

Yes this is so true, I think about how women use to have to wash all the clothes and dishes by hand, ugh. I can't imagine with cloth diapers!!!
Anywho I get so annoyed at my front door it takes about 10 seconds to close and that just the perfect amount of time for a little munchkin to escape out the door.

Kathryn said...

We have downstairs neighboors and I get really annoyed when my Son jumps on the floor,(especially late at night...) I think I will try counting to help me stay calm. Thanks for the tip!

Anonymous said...

Patience...where can I but some of that? My patience level is 0 in many instances. I need to work on that and realize that the world will not come to the end if I need to wait for something or if I running behind.

Bethany Cox said...

johnny is so cute. i just want to eat him...eat him raw.

heidi said...

Patience? I think they must only have that down on small famrs in Mexico because I ain't seen any here!

;-)

Amanda B. said...

Love it... that is great...I need that reminder too because I know things would be much harder 100 years ago, but I too get so impatient about the simplest things!

Carla said...

Patience is virtue-so I hear:)

Christine G said...

Awesome post! I think I'll try that today with a few tasks I get impatient about. :)

CompleteLee Blogger said...

What do you use to get baby fingerprints off your dishwasher in 4 seconds? My stainless steel dishwasher seems always have smudges and prints and stuff getting on it and half the stuff I have tried to clean it with quickly just smears!

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

CompleteLee Blogger, I just use a damp washcloth and Windex! Is that wrong with stainless steel? Well, it works for me!

CompleteLee Blogger said...

I am sure there is nothing wrong with your method. I wonder if maybe my washrag is just too wet when I use it...

Oh, and FYI it doesn't take me 19 seconds to get your web page up. More like 10 seconds. ;)