Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

• Isaiah 40:30-31

The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

• Psalm 46:7-11

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
    he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.

• Psalm 23:1-3

Some of my bosses would say that I was the laziest person on the face of the earth, but I was a fast worker and they could not give me enough work to keep me busy.  The other guys might have half the workload, but they mastered the skill of making it look like they were busy.  Thus, the boss gave me the extra stuff.

I see that in retrospect.  How can the big boss rely on me so much and want to fire me at the same time?

But having spent a lot of my career doing estimate and managing projects, I understand unproductive time.  In a proposal from an engineering company, half the price is for company overhead.  That could be mortgage on the building, new computers, the monthly internet service, the water and sewer bills.  But it is also the accountant that never charges any time as work hours on the project.  And sadly, there are hours that are unproductive.  You need the person’s services, but not yet.  So, if another project does not need the person, you have to account for someone who looks very busy, but he is really playing solitaire on his computer.

In the training industry, some of that unproductive time is accounted for at the worker level.  We had two tasks that were part of every task analysis.  They were called “Start the task” and “End the task.”  In starting the task, the worker draws the proper tools and equipment parts (for a maintenance task, as an example).  The task is almost always documented by a procedure, and printing the procedure and reading it over was part of starting the task.  In reading the procedure, the worker double checks that they have all the necessary tools and they learn whether it is a one, two, or three man task.  Some were “village” tasks, but usually the foreman did the start-task items for those big jobs.  Ending the task had to include cleaning up after yourself, putting away the tools, and the paperwork had to be completed.

But, when you are retired – yet, busier than you ever were on the job – what is unproductive time?  It’s not like I am getting paid.

I have been suffering from tech neck lately, and I bought a neck massager that shuts itself off after fifteen minutes (limit of one treatment per day).  But I have found that I do not have to be still with my eyes closed.  I can watch the news.  I can play solitaire on my phone.  Or I can double dip on my therapy in that I use a warm compress on my eyes (heat mask) for about 7-8 minutes every day.  Since I cannot see during this timeframe, I listen to music.  Since songs are often three to three and a half minutes, I will listen to three songs.

Yes, some of you are thinking that I need a different kind of therapy, something to address my OCD.

But, I only have so much time left, and I do not wish to have unproductive unproductive time.  Is it a crime to do two things at once?  My late wife bragged about how women were much better multitaskers than men, but I felt I could hold my own with anyone.

One area where I fail in being productive in my unproductive time is when my mind wanders to a topic that is totally unproductive.  By the time that I snap back to my senses, I realize that I had taken my eyes off Jesus, and I had thought about things that did no good to me or the work at hand.  Then some productive unproductive time needs to follow, praying for forgiveness.

But another form of unproductive time is my sleep time and my unintentional naps.  When I have one of those naps, I wake up refreshed and I immediately thank the Lord.  He knows better than I do when a personal goal is simply my goal and not His.  And He knows my body better than I do at times.  But I try to block out about 8-10 hours of time in bed, whether asleep or not is another question.  I have arguments with my watch, but the watch thinks I get about seven hours of sleep each night, less than half deep sleep.

Do not ignore your body.  You need rest.  But doing two or even three things at the same time is great if you can keep track of all the concurrent tasks.  And in relying on God, God can tell you when you have reached your limit.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.