Home Articles

Discover Hidden Profits in "Spare Change" Times
by Jim Edwards

Fact: Take the spare change out of your pocket every night and put it in a child's piggy bank. At the end of a year you will have at least a hundred dollars to spend as you wish.

Now take this same principle and discover the huge payoff in the "spare change" time you've been wasting all these years.

How often do you sit in front of your computer and wait?

Everyone waits for the computer to reboot, restart, unlock, "scandisk", "defrag", finish printing, download a file from the Internet or generally accomplish tasks that have you sitting twiddling your thumbs for at least 60 to 90 seconds or more.

The shocking truth is that those one, two and three minute nuggets of time contain the seeds for accomplishing all the tasks you never seem to have enough minutes in the day to finish.

Computers represent a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they are supposed to save us time by efficiently helping us with big tasks such as balancing our checkbooks, running our businesses, and doing our taxes.

In reality, it seems the time computers save you gets sucked right back up in time-consuming tasks such as installing software, scanning for viruses and waiting for the computer to restart!

Think about the spare change in the piggy bank example. Now use that same principle to your advantage by developing an awareness of how you spend your "pocket change" time in front of the computer every day.

Small bits of wasted time add up quickly over the course of a day, week, year - all of it in 2 to 3 minute increments. Fifteen wasted minutes a day equals well over 1 ½ productive weeks wasted per year!

Take this "one-day challenge".

Today, try these alternatives to sitting and watching the "hourglass" on your monitor while waiting for your computer to finish a task!

• Organize your desk
• Sharpen your pencils
• Make a quick phone call
• Check your "to-do" list; if you don't have a "to-do" list make one
• Write a fast note to a friend
• Put in a load of laundry
• Go to the bathroom
• Get another cup of coffee
• Pay a bill
• Catch up your checkbook entries
• Pick up your office
• Brainstorm an idea
• Stand up and stretch
• Day-dream for about a happy thought for 90 seconds!

Copyright © 2002 Jim Edwards

Kick start your imagination, ignite your creativity, and begin your journey towards becoming an outstanding writer. Grab a copy of WEEKLY WRITES: 52 Weeks of Writing Bliss! from Amazon.com and receive 2 free e-books to encourage and nurture the writer in you. You'll also receive Write Memories, a journaling workbook available for free only to WEEKLY WRITES book owners. And finally, as a WEEKLY WRITES book owner, you'll have free access to e-mail courses such as JOYFUL WRITES: Celebrate Your Life through Writing For excerpts, reviews and what you need to do to receive the 2 free e-books, Write Memories and sign up for free e-mail courses, just head on to the Weekly Writes Book Official Site. (Clicking on the link will open a new window.)