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If there is something I do or somewhere I go to on a regular basis, I start to find ways to accomplish these things, or the travel, as efficiently as possible. I’m not sure if I do this so that the repetitiveness of the action becomes less mundane or if it’s just because I thrive off finding the most streamlined approach to things!
I tend to think that I am not alone in my approach. As a society, we are definitely creatures of habit and when we do something over and over and over again, we want to waste as little time as possible. It is why a sewing machine was invented or a vacuum cleaner or GPS Navigation, or, way back when, the wheel! However, I am not sure that everyone is as focused on finding the most efficient solution as I am.
Over my many decades of doing things, I have found that it is actually more efficient, time wise, when doing dishes, to leave the water running over them while you wash each one, rinse it and place it in the drying rack. Of course, this only pertains to dinner dishes for up to four people. More people dining requires a more extensive clean-up, which, if you have one, can best be accomplished with a dishwasher.
When changing sheets on a bed, it is more efficient to tuck the fitted bottom sheet around the head/top of the mattress before tucking it around the foot/bottom. For whatever reason, there is more space to maneuver around the foot of the bed, making the tightest sheet tucks easier to do.
And when channel surfing, it is certainly more efficient to create a custom channel surfing guide, based on your preferred channels, rather than leaving all 8 million channels as options. Of course, this can make it quite frustrating for anyone else in your household, who may have a completely altered preferred viewing platform, to use the remote.
I am most concerned about my streamlining, however, when it comes to driving. If there is a place that I have to drive to on a regular basis, I try to find the most efficient way to get there, which, depending upon posted speed limit signs and traffic lights, may not necessarily be the least mileage route. I research roads and study maps and find that sometimes, a route that is several miles longer, may actually, in the end, be the quickest route. I try them all and time myself. On occasion, I have even enlisted another driver and told them to travel the other route just to see who actually gets there faster. And it goes without saying, that if you can safely hug the yellow line when going around corners and (again, safely) pass through yellow lights, you will arrive at your destination a few seconds, or maybe even minutes, earlier than you did the last time. Upon a deeper reflection of my own zest for driving efficiency, perhaps I missed my true calling and should have seriously considered being a professional race car driver, which, after all, is the very epitome of streamline accomplishment!
TRIM. TRIM.
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!
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