I look forward to the end of each day.
Before I go to bed I have gotten back into the habit of taking a nice long bath; something most Japanese people do.
As a child in England I always loved bath time complete with bubble bath but when I moved overseas bath time became shower time and that became my habit.
Ten years ago though I moved into the apartment where I type this very post. It had a bathtub that could be set to fill to a preset depth and temperature.
I was sold and bath time was reinstated.
One of the main reasons I started taking baths again was simply because of the cold winters here in Osaka.
True, it may not be anything like those in Wisconsin or Finland but here we don’t have central heating so the houses do get quite cold at night.
Crazy it might sound I heard that one acquaintance that lives in the northeastern part of Japan actually keeps their toothbrush in the fridge as it was warmer than in their bathroom.
So warmth was the main reason I started it back up but since I have gotten into self-help I use bath time to do some three very important things:
- Go over my day – what I did right, what I did wrong. What could I share with my readers or use in a future book? (which reminds me, I need to get something to keep notes on in the bathroom)
- Think about the next day – what will I do? where will I go?
- Do some breathing exercises – to release stress and clear my mind.
Most of us use our lunch time to eat lunch. And most people who take a bath use it to enjoy the bath.
But there’s no rule against using those quiet times to get more out of life. In fact, I would encourage you to take advantage of these smalls windows of opportunity.
We could study, we could think, we could release stress but instead we just complain about what has happened or think about what show we’ll watch.
I admit I do like to complain from time to time as it gives me food for thought.
And I do like to watch an episode of SYTYCD or True Blood on TV.
But I make sure that I set aside time to write my posts, write down ideas for books and lectures, study and write emails.
So with that stuff on top of my responsibilities as a manager and a father I don’t have much down time.
That’s where bath time comes in.
I use it to get the stuff I would never get done elsewhere done.
We all have those small pockets of time in our lives that could be used for any number of productive ideas. It doesn’t really matter which ideas you choose to focus on but that you are getting into the habit of getting more out of what you have.
That single idea alone could transform your life.
It could…but will it?
Depends on what you do with it.
Good luck.
Adrian Shepherd