Glass half-full thinking

Hurray! my local council have taken the trouble to write to me to tell me that I need do nothing to continue to enjoy the benefits of their service. Happy days.

Only a council could call collecting money from me a 'service'. Not just any old service, it's an 'increasingly efficient service'.

The letter is an amazing exercise in glass half full thinking. As well as 'increasingly efficient service', it includes phrases such as 'continue to receive the benefits', 'the good news is' and 'enjoy the full benefits'.

The full benefits that I will continue to enjoy by taking no action [through paying by direct debit] seem to be that if they take more than they should from my bank, I'm entitled to a full refund, and that if they want to take more than I expect from my bank account, they will write to tell me beforehand.

I would actually call these 'things that I would take for granted' or 'things that wouldn't even be in question if I were paying by other means' rather than 'benefits'.

I'm only kidding and I don't have a problem with paying my local tax, and DD makes things really easy.

My point is that there's probably a lesson to be learned here in making something bad sound like a favour...

creating more time

Finding enough time has become a real problem.

One remedy has come, as discoveries often do, by accident.

For a completely different reason, I found myself noting details of my tasks with times. The exercise has been a real eye opener.

Certain activities which I suspected were eating up my time disproportionately were actually taking even more time than I'd thought. Dropping that part of the business has removed an unprofitable activity as well as saving perhaps an hour every day.

There has been another benefit too. Noting what you're working on keeps you focussed. When you finish one task it makes you decide on the next job and start it, rather than turning to Facebook. when you're working on a task, knowing that it's being timed curbs the tendency to get up and make a cup of tea. This has also created a noticeable amount of time in the day.

Being able to see a list of completed tasks at the end of the day also makes for a satisfying day.

I can't recommend this simple exercise highly enough.