It may be nerdy, or controlling, or calculated, but I have an answer to ‘why am I doing it this way’ for everything. For every action I take, there are at least two ‘why?’s. This is how I get the most out of life.
A few, off the top of my head, examples:
- Walk or bicycle anywhere possible. This one is easy – it keeps me fit, saves money on propelling the car, and is better for the environment. If I have enough time, I’ll walk 20 or 30 minutes to get to where I want to go. Considering that the average fitness class is an hour, it’s a standard work out to walk round trip. Also, more time efficient as for reasons I haven’t yet discovered, anything that is a 5 minute drive away takes at least 15 minutes to get to, by the time I get out the door, into the car, park at the other end and find the store/house/venue/gym. If I walk, it takes 30 seconds to get out the door and zero minutes for parking. There are limitations to how much you can carry when you are walking so it won’t always work. Also, if you want to arrive looking polished and fresh, a bike ride might not do the trick.
- Take public transit when possible. Better for the environment because the fuel is consumed more efficiently when many people are involved. Allows me more freedom. I can read, text, look out the window to my heart’s content without endangering anyone. When I commute to work, spending the hour reading is more productive than driving myself, which is the only thing driving myself accomplishes. Drinking and driving isn’t possible when taking the bus. And it’s fun. I take public transit when I’m travelling. It allows a glimmer of the culture. Arriving in Dublin, Ireland in 1996, on the bus from the airport to my hotel, I saw all the passengers cross themselves when the bus passed a church. Don’t know if that still happens in Dublin, but it showed me a bit of the Irish culture I wouldn’t have seen if I’d taken a taxi. So, taking public transit cares for the environment, allows personal freedom and a cultural experience.
- Use a push-mover to cut the grass. Exercise. No carbon emissions. Same with shovelling snow with a shovel, rather than a snow blower.
- Walking up the stairs if possible. Keeping physically active. Conserving energy (of the elevator). More time efficient than waiting for the elevator. Less frustrating.
Today I found a 3X solution to organizing some daily activities. I had a doctor’s appointment. And wanted to pick up some beer. Since the doctor and the beer store are in the same direction, the efficient me wanted the two excursions to be linked to save time. Always on the lookout to get exercise, I didn’t want to give up the walk to the doctor’s office. Parking costs a pretty penny at the doctor’s office so that was another parameter to optimize (cost), which made for a 4X solution. I drove to the beer store, parked there for free, walked to the doctor’s office and back for exercise, purchased beer and drove home. I saved time (avoiding two separate trips) and money (on parking), exercised and accomplished an errand all in one trip.
Trivialities, yes, but the concept’s the thing. I spend a bit of time planning how to leverage my choices, usually while I’m doing something else mindless (like washing dishes, shovelling snow or climbing stairs), to make them accomplish more than one goal. And apply often for best results.