Getting Things Done

Essential or Non-Essential

“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.”

                                              Lin Yutang

As I've mentioned before, I have begun working for my son, the antiques dealer—posting and shipping items for his ebay business. I like it because I make a little money and it helps him. But sometimes, I get a bit carried away. Take for instance the case of the Stereo Viewer—one of those old 50's era View Master slide viewers with a little light inside that makes the picture three dimensional. I listed it without checking to see whether it worked. Someone in Canada bought it for $20.00, and Ian told me, “Make sure it works before you ship it.” Well, I took it apart, cleaned the battery contacts, drove to the CVS, bought a pack of C batteries ($6.00+tax), put them into the viewer—didn't work. Bulb must be burned out. Tried to unscrew the bulb, but since it was old, it crushed in my hand. Finally got it out and drove to the Home Depot to buy a bulb; I was told by an incredulous young woman that “they don't make 'em like that any more.” So I drove to a camera shop across town and was told that the only store that might have those old “screw-in models” would be Batteries Plus. Drove to Batteries Plus—they didn't have it but sent me to their Trussville store ten miles away. Miracle of miracles! They had the bulb, so I bought it ($4.50+tax) and drove home. Screwed it into the viewer, popped in the batteries and guess what—it didn't work! Now I've driven at least forty miles, burned half a tank of outrageously expensive gasoline, spent more than half the value of the item, not to mention hours of my time, and it still doesn't work. I emailed the customer and explained—he said, “Well, I still want the viewer, so send it on!” This is the point at which we Southerners say, “Lord have mercy!” and some other things I won't write in this spirituality blog.

Doing more than I need to is just one of the ways I spend time and treasure on non-essential things. How about you? Getting things done is good, but learning how to sort the essential from the non-essential is critical. There is a word in the medical field for this sorting—triage. Deciding what is important, a priority, and putting that first on the list, and then ranking according to necessity. It's a good skill to develop in our busy-busy, get-things-done world. Just taking five minutes in the morning and asking the question, “What really needs to be done today and what can wait until tomorrow?” would help us to move through the to-do list in a sane fashion.

I shipped the Stereo Viewer yesterday. I paid more to ship it to Canada than it brought on ebay. It's surprising what can be learned from a sixty year old toy!

                                                  In the spirit,

                                                    Jane