Productive Puttering
TL;DR:
Schedule a day (or more) to putter productively
Puttering, moving from thing to thing as you feel like it, can help you take care a lot of little things in a gentle way
I’ve always loved the word putter. As a verb, it means to move unhurriedly or at a casual pace. Puttering sounds so unproductive but I’ve found that scheduling a day for puttering can actually be very useful - and lead to getting a lot done.
This week is a rather slow week work-wise. Most of my client organizations are winding down for the Thanksgiving Break or they are racing towards the break, and so consulting meetings take a back seat this week. So, I’ve found myself looking at a week with some nice free blocks of time.
My default mode is to schedule these days heavily with long lists of latent projects that need attention. However, I’ve left some unscheduled blocks of time in them simply to do what feels right in that moment.
When I leave myself time to putter, I’m happier, often stay more focused on a project (since I’m not wondering what I have to do next when), and I get large amounts of work done. While it may not have been work to do on my most pressing projects, it was work that still needed to get done at some point and it’s no longer a mental - and sometimes physical - weight in my life. Boxes get unpacked, closets get reorganized (or at least parts of them), and things get thrown out.
Puttering is a great way to get through what author and podcaster Gretchen Rubin calls a “power hour”. An hour scheduled where you knock through a to do list of little nagging tasks like changing light bulbs, tightening screws, etc. I find that having the list of all of those tasks but not trying to force myself into getting them done in an hour is a great way to keep moving through the list of little annoying things that just have to get done.
So, what about you? Do you enjoy highly scheduled days with to do lists telling you where to go and what to do? Or, do you prefer to just putter productively?
Some Things You Might Find Interesting
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I love puttering days. In fact I am in the middle of one today. Plant care, cat bed laundry, random stuff and the freedom to stop and watch tv segment. I have to-do-list days, where I work with purpose but I agree...putter days are really productve and mentally refreshing!