5 Ways to Pay the Hidden Cost of Rushing Through Life

How many of you have started Christmas shopping?  When I went into Target today (for laundry detergent, TP, and other staples), I was greeted by Christmas décor throughout the store, even though Halloween is still in the future (not to mention Thanksgiving).

But according to retailers, the next season is already here.

This trick, which makes shopping seem necessary and urgent, has become normal to us, even if we might feel momentary annoyance about it.  But the constant rush toward the next shopping season has affected us in more ways than one.  It's now typical for most of us to push through every event, hurrying toward the next, spending all of our energy (and time and money) in lavish preparation, and putting almost no attention on the occasion itself because we're already thinking ahead to the next thing.

We're always pushing, plowing through errands, appointments, emails, and other to-dos.  Our habit of always looking ahead to what's next, even before we've finished what's now, makes us feel that we're behind on everything.  We're always playing catch-up.

Of course, this is stressful and exhausting.  But there's another hidden cost.

Life debt

In computer programming, there's a concept called "tech debt."  It means that when you take shortcuts now, you "owe" some work later to smooth things out and make them the way they should actually be.  Apparently, programmers do this all the time.  They don't take time for precision, but do things the short way for now, coming back later to clean them up and finish the job.

I get that.  After all, I'm a writer.  You pound something out just to get ideas on paper, not worrying about getting them in the wrong order or with perfect wording.  Then you come back (often more than once) and refine what you've written, hopefully tightening and improving it, and perhaps finding a pithy or catchy way of phrasing a point.

However, we do this in our lives as well.  We accumulate what minimalist teacher Leo Babauta calls "life debt" when we rush through each day, leaving little things unfinished or in a mess because of our hurry.

Sometimes this is necessary.  No one can do every single piece of maintenance or cleanup that's required for every task, every minute of the day.  Sometimes life is a little messy and imperfect.  That's reality.  But we should acknowledge the debt.

Let me give you some examples:

• Getting ready:  You shower, get dressed, do all the things to prepare yourself for the day, but leave things on the bathroom counter or bedroom floor in your rush to get out the door.  The debt is the mess to be cleaned up later.

• Cooking:  You're trying to cook a meal and get it on the table by a certain time, leaving measuring utensils, a knife and cutting board, a mixing bowl and pan all dirty in the sink.  You've spilled food on the counter and stove as you've worked.  The debt is the mess to be cleaned up later.

• Eating:  You eat your meal and leave dishes in the sink and crumbs on the table.  You don't have time to clean up, so the debt is the mess you need to clean up later.

• Mail and email:  You open some mail or your email, but don't have time to deal with everything now, so you leave it for later.  There's a pile of papers on your desk, and a growing queue of emails needing attention in your inbox.  The debt is the tasks you need to finish later.

• Meetings and calls:  You leave a meeting or finish a call and rush on to the next thing you need to do.  You don't have time to write or type out a few notes or add tasks to your list.  The debt is the thoughts and ideas you need to try and recapture later.

• Creating clutter:  As you hurry through your home or office, you leave things here and there.  You might not even notice, but there they sit, waiting to be put where they belong.  The debt is the growing mess you need to deal with – or the things you need to hunt for when you can't remember where you put them.

I'm sure you get the idea.  Life debt is everywhere – in the pile on the kitchen table, in the garage, on the floor near the front door, or even in files on your computer desktop or photos on your phone.  It's part of living and doing things, but it shouldn't just be ignored.

Easy ways to pay off life debt

I want to say first that life debt isn't something to feel guilt or shame about.  Don't beat yourself up, because this is a normal part of life if you're trying to accomplish anything.

The question you need to ask is what is an acceptable amount of life debt that lets you keep moving through your day, and when does it become a problem or a source of stress and distraction?  The answer to this question will vary from person to person.

Here's how I handle it.

1.  Go slower.

I realize this isn't always possible.  But life is much less stressful and messy when we put a bit of space between errands and activities.  This leaves a little time for maintenance, and allows us to operate with more serenity and poise.  If you want to be a person who feels prepared and confident, do a little less and go a little slower.

2.  Close the loop.

This is a phrase I started saying to myself that helps me pause and notice what needs to be done before I move on.  For example, do I need to hang up my clothes or put them in the laundry hamper instead of leaving them on the bed or floor?  Do I need to put my dishes in the dishwasher and wipe the counter?  Do I need to save my work to a particular file before I shut off my laptop and put it away?  Do I need to save a nice photo sent by my daughter to the "Grandsons" album on my phone?  The good news is that all of these things take just a minute or two.  It's pretty easy to close the loop.

3.  Clean as you go.

When I'm cooking, I run a sink full of hot, soapy water, and put utensils, the cutting board, or whatever in there so I can wash them while food simmers or bakes.  I also wipe up any spills immediately, which keeps my work area clean and also prevents things hardening or getting tracked around.  As a consequence, post-meal cleanup is much easier and quicker.

When I'm getting ready in the morning, I put items like moisturizer, toothpaste, and my comb away as soon as I finish using them.  It takes seconds, and keeps the counter from getting crowded.  Before I leave the room, I use the hand towel to wipe off splashes on the counter and mirror, then put it in the hamper and hang a clean one.  The bathroom looks better and is ready for the next use.

4.  Do an evening tidy.

Before bed, my husband and I take five minutes or so to put things away where they belong, fluff the couch pillows, fold any blankets, start the dishwasher (if we didn't do it earlier), make an errand list for the next day, put an item we don't want to forget in the morning on the table near the front door, etc.  Not all of these things need to be done every evening, but the concept of tidying away what we've used and prepping for the next day keeps us on top of things.

5.  Keep a paper calendar.

Okay, I'm old, so a paper calendar makes sense to me.  But it might to you too.  In fact, plenty of younger people are apparently going back to paper because they like the option of seeing the events of an entire month at a glance.  It's easier not to become over-booked if you can see what you've already planned or committed yourself to.  It's also easier to keep track of what more than one person is doing if everyone shares a planner.  My planner* has a section on the side where I can keep a reminder list for things like "schedule car oil change," "run cleaning cycle on washing machine," and "make birthday card for Aunt Renate."

* Thank you for supporting this blog.  If you purchase through my links, I may earn a small commission.

Most of these actions have become habitual for me, and I do them almost without thinking, but at first, of course, I wasn't perfect with any of it.  Eventually, they became second nature.

We don't have to speed through our lives and feel like we're always trying to catch up.  We can explore ways of coping so we don't get weighed down by the messy burden of life debt.  These practices can help us stop rushing quite so much as we start to pay more attention to what we're doing while we're doing it.

Related article:  How to Improve the Quality of Your Everyday Life

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