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2010 is fast approaching, and with it the inevitable drafting of New Year's resolutions. I suspect many of us always have an implicit resolution of finding more time - more hours in the day to get everything done. I'm constantly scanning for ways to add efficiencies to my routines and household chores wherever possible and, of course, technology is often a help in this regard. Here are a few ways technology can be used to save a few minutes here and there as we head into 2010.
First, a mundane but useful tool is auto-billpay. I resisted this for a long time because early experiences (as in, a decade ago) were pretty annoying. But things have come a long way since then, and now I'm auto-paying many more bills than I used to. At some point a few months back I just got very tired of losing significant portions of my weekend to writing checks and licking envelopes.
Second, if you wear a watch (and I do - because sometimes it's rude to pull out a cell-phone to check the time), find a watch that will auto-wind. My husband got me one for Christmas. While it may not be the most fashionable, it's pretty cool, in a geeky way. And far superior to my old watch, which is sitting in a drawer awaiting a battery replacement which I haven't got around to doing for a year or more. Because, who has time to go to the mall - or wherever it is that one gets new watch batteries - and get it replaced? In general, eliminating errands (Amazon Prime 2-day shipping helps with this, too) is always to be desired. (Unless, of course, you use errands as a way to get out of the house and find a change of scene.)
Third, use extremely aggressive filtering on your email. We've talked about this before. If you're not filtering, if you're looking at the same email more than 2 or 3 times, then your email is wasting your time.
Fourth, let technology help you multitask. I read books on Kindle for the iPhone while nursing my toddler. I listen to podcasts while on the exercise bike or commuting. And, of course, we all now do laundry while doing plenty of other things. Which raises the question, of course, whether my premise is correct. The automatic clothes washing machine was touted as a huge labor saver back in the day. But it may have just raised the bar as to what people (read: women) are expected to accomplish.
Actually, the same is potentially true for all of these and other timesavers. Wherever we manage to carve out an extra 15 minutes, new demands and expectations quickly pop up to fill the gap. We've all seen it happen. Just look at the word processor and its effect on work expectations. Now I'm no longer responsible only for good content, but also for elegant page layout and formatting as well (which takes up the majority of my time at certain stages of the process - a truly aggravating state of affairs.) Smart phones have a long and well-understood history of not only saving time (allowing for quick responses), but also for demanding time in that we are now supposed to be always-on and always-accessible. At home, the washing machine (as mentioned), the dishwasher, the icebox (freezer), the vacuum cleaner, and the incandescent bulb have all contributed to increased expectations for how a household should be run.
Well... now I'm just getting depressed. Perhaps I'll give up on trying to 'find more time' as a New Year's resolution, as that's probably a futile quest, and instead focus on living in the now. Or something. As soon as I can carve out a moment to notice the now, that is!
Have a great New Year, everyone. Looking forward to 2010! As always, don't hesitate to drop me a note if you have suggestions for topics for Technology Thursday. (Preview: I hear there may be a new tablet device being announced in January - it'll be interesting to see what implications that sort of technology will have!)
Onward!
How true, how true. Happy New Year!
Posted by: MinTenn | Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 03:24 PM