#32 Efficiency is making you angry

What are the things that make you feel blissfuly paced? I mean things that you do slowly, you have to do slowly, and you enjoy for doing slowly?

A friend of mine had a kettle with a very narrow spout that forced the water to come out in a thin stream. It would take about a minute to pour a cup of tea, as oppose to the 1-2 seconds it takes with a normal kettle. It would drive me nuts.

I feel like the things I want to be done efficiently I really need to be done efficiently. A 3 minute delay waiting for the tube becomes frustrating and waiting 5 minutes for my electric toothbrush to charge if I’ve forgotten to plug it in is sometimes unbearable. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

The more I cut corners and put systems in place to systemise my life: the more expensive of a MacBook I have, the more I lose my patience with a 2 second screen freeze. And yet I remember the days where I had to turn off our home computer after every 20 minutes of use for an hour of rest so that it could stop overheating. And that was utterly normal.

I’m low-key aware of this modern-world impatience growing inside me, but it’s often just that: a frustration with inefficiency or a frustration with my self-spoilt self. It rarely is something to enjoy. But this week, it finally was fun.

I watched a musical at the theatre. And while I was getting the usual goosebumps and appreciation for just how amazing human beings are, I suddenly realised how inefficient the whole thing was. (In the most beautiful way, don’t kill me just yet)

We could’ve recorded the whole thing. The audio would’ve been better, the actors wouldn’t have needed to go hoarse putting on a show twice a day, the lighting could’ve been improved, no-one would have had to wait 30 minutes in their seats for the show to start.

There was just sooo much wasted time in the whole affair, and honestly, that’s what made it brilliant.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a fast computer and planes departing on time, but I absolutely relished the act of sitting down, without looking at my phone, without being tempted to speed things up with keyboard shortcuts, without having the option of stopping to take notes, but just listening, seeing, smiling and crying at absolutely brilliant, paced, indulgent talent.