Kay:

Hey there Questers, welcome back! It’s Wednesday, October 7th, and this is Episode 198. We have a really interesting quote for you today and cannot wait to unpack it for you!

Shi:

Now, this quote is most often attributed to John Lennon, but has definitely appeared in print before his time. It’s also attributed to Bertrand Russel and – earlier – Marthe Troly-Curtin. But, no matter who said it, it’s still great advice. And, the advice is this, “Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted.”

Kay:

Now, when we were prepping for this podcast, I kind of incredulously laughed at Shila and said, “I’m pretty sure I wasted a lot of time in my life that I did not necessarily enjoy. But, instead, was maybe doing something that might seem a little bit joyful. And, she said, “This isn’t saying that time that you wasted was not wasted, it’s time that you enjoyed – while doing something that might be considered wasting time – was not wasted.” And, that differentiation was super helpful for me Shi.

Shi:

Well, I’m so glad that it was because it is definitely the operative word in this that makes it advice and not just a turn of phrase. “Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted.” So, time that you just let pass, or time that you were miserable is time that is wasted. But, if you enjoy time you “wasted” – you didn’t really waste it! I think this is really getting at that point of like, life has moments for you to enjoy. You’re on this adventure, there’s delights all around you, there’s natural abundance happening right outside your window. And so, maybe just sitting and looking out the window for five minutes you might feel like, “Ooh I wasted that five minutes.” But, if you were truly enjoying the experience and loving it then that was not wasted. So really, this quote is about letting yourself classify enjoyment time as something that’s valuable to your life.

Kay:

I can think about plenty of days that I have made the mistake of maybe letting the TV run while I lay on the couch and mindlessly watching it. And not necessarily enjoying myself while I was doing that. And then, I contrast that with a day where I’ve worked really hard for a few weeks and I’ve set myself up right, and my husband and I do a movie marathon where we close all of the windows and the curtains and we watch movies ALL day…and we order in, and we make a date, and an occasion of it! And, that might be considered “wasting time” staying inside and watching movies all day. And, you realize that both of those actions were the same action, but the enjoyment of it made one of those experiences not wasted time, whereas the other one was.

Shi:

I think the real wasted time is time that you’re not fully present and experiencing that moment. And, we all waste time in this definition of it probably more often than we’d like to admit. But it kind of reminds me of something we’ve brought forward here before on the Mentorship Quest and that is this idea of – it’s not about eliminating the $4 latte in order to change your financial life, it’s about ordering the $4 latte from a place of empowerment and from a place of choice and presence. And so, I think wasting time for the purpose of enjoyment also comes from a place of empowerment. It helps to uncover the fact that you’re not just here to be productive. You’re not just here to work. Life has many different wonderful things for you to experience and enjoying yourself is one of them!

Kay:

One of the things that’s been really helpful for me as of late is understanding, kind of the need for self-care. I used to kind of roll my eyes at the idea of self-care because I thought that was “wasted time.” I thought it was all bubble baths, and drinking champagne, and kind of that stereotypical white girl like, “I do self-care.” Right? I thought that it was like this “bougie” thing that was just meant for “bougie” people. But, when I really started understanding what self-care meant – it means to be present enough to do those things like drink all the water you’re supposed to drink in a day because you’re not so busy and you can tune into those cues from your body. It’s like putting on lotion when your skin’s a little bit dry…Taking that extra time out of the shower to make sure that your body has what it needs, and that YOU have what you need in order to do the things that you need. And so, how often do we find ourselves just mindlessly doing our tasks or saying, “Well I need self-care.” So, you end up drowning in half a bottle of champagne instead of really doing the things that are good for you. But, being intentional about that enjoyment can help you waste no time – even when you’re doing something that somebody might consider a waste of time activity! So, just a reminder, we’re going to go ahead and attribute today’s quote to John Lennon, and, that quote is, “Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted.”

Shi:

All right, that brings you to your quest and you already KNOW it’s a wasted quest – but not in the way you might think…

Kay:

WASTED!…We don’t drink 😉

Shi:

Right?! We don’t even drink! But, your quest for today is to wonderfully waste five minutes of time this Wednesday. Now, of course, this five minutes will not be a “waste of time” in the traditional “waste of time” sense. So, we want you to take another five minutes for yourself today, and waste it in the way that you will enjoy the most, so you can watch how it motivates your work time! Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!