Do what you love to do and stop doing what you don’t like to do.

This is what I have done with my life. Sure there are things I still have to do that I don’t like to do, but I have definitely decreased the amount of time I spend doing them.

#1 Massive amounts of laundry. Ugh. With having five kids, can you imagine how many loads of laundry I have done in my life?? There were times that I had to load up baskets of clothes in our fifteen passenger van and spend the day at the laundromat, just to get caught up. Yeah, I don’t do that anymore. I still have three kids at home, but they each do their own laundry.  I have also reduced the amount of clothes that I own to where I only have to do one load of clothes a week, plus towels and sheets.

#2 Spending time with controlling or negative people. I no longer allow my days to get dictated by what other people want of me. Sure these people are everywhere, but I can minimize my contact with them and not let them poison me.

#3 Days filled with committee meetings and frivolous obligations. I gave up sitting on committees that sucked the life out of me and I now choose where I spend my time. I still serve on some organizations and boards, but only after I decide carefully if I am willing to trade hours, days or weeks of my life for it. There were years in my where I felt like I was a prisoner being held hostage in groups that I volunteered for. Then I realized that it was me that volunteered to do it. Now I un-volunteer myself. I’ve learned that it’s OK to say “No”. By saying “No” to the stuff I don’t like doing or that is not beneficial to the bottom line outcome I want in my life, I have much more time to say “Yes” to what matters most, and what I like to do.

#4 Talking on the phone. Long gone are the days that I stop what I’m doing to run and catch the phone. I hate being interrupted from a task I’m working on or a face to face conversation I am having to answer a phone call. Voicemail and the  missed call list on my phone can tell me who to call back when it’s convenient for me.

I think texting and email were two of the best things ever created for introverts. Introverts need time to formulate what they need or want to say. Instead of answering a phone on someone else’s schedule and being put on the spot to spit out half thought out words, we can now take a minute to put the right words together to communicate our thoughts and intentions.

There are few people that I will talk to on the phone with and two of them brought me into this world. For business communication I prefer written words and in-person conversation. I like having a record of what was said, promised or agreed upon. With in-person communication, I like the warmth of physical touch, caring smile and direct eye contact.

#5 The news. I remember in my past life, when bad news was happening, I would have the TV on with minute by minute updates of bad news. I now catch the gist of what the important news is in reading a couple headlines then I can go on about my business.

#6 Mindless TV watching. Cutting cable TV from our life and budget seven years ago was one of the first game changers in our lives. We still have internet and one TV that is connected to our computers so we can watch an occasional movie or Netflix show. I usually reserve that time for cold winter nights.

#7 Traffic. Even though I never had to participate in the daily 2-3 hour each way commute that Sean had to do for so many years. I have zero tolerance for spending my life in a car looking at tail lights. If I am in a car, I want to be in motion heading to a destination where I choose to be. I think that is one of the best things about living on an island. Sure there are heavy traffic days on Tybee, but there really only about a dozen a year, and on those days, I just take my bike.

#8 Wearing socks. Or even worse, heels and panty hose. I have chosen a career that allows me to wear flip flops, and I even kick those off for most of my days. I own seven pairs of socks now and that’s just for my workouts and three months of winter when I have to keep my feet warm. Hopefully one of those months this year will be spent in Costa Rica wear I think socks are prohibited.