There are some instances when I can’t stand wasting time. If someone’s driving 10 mph under the speed limit on a one lane road, I’m infuriated. If the one guy behind the counter at the post office is moving at a glacial pace when there’s 5 people in line in front of me, I want to scream at that guy. When the waiter says it will be just a minute but disappears for five, I want to leave.
But when I tally the actual time wasted on things like this per day, it’s often in the single digits. Even if all three of the above happen on any given day, the total lost time is probably 15 minutes. Whenever I think about this, I feel ridiculous. Ten minutes in line at the post office? How long am I going to let that piss me off? Certainly not just the 10 minutes I’m standing there. 60 minutes? 600 minutes? The amount of fury that results from those few wasted minutes is grossly disproportionate to the actual inconvenience. Even if I billed my time out at $1000 an hour, did I really just lose $250? Not really. So I work til 7:15 tonight instead of 7:00. Big deal.
Why am I allowing minor inconveniences to have a major effect on my day?
.