When am I ever going to need this?

I was  fussing around earlier and decided to give myself a math problem.

Alexandra wants to know how she spends a typical day, using percentages. Please allow 33% for sleeping and pretending to sleep. Use the list below, provided by the subject, to arrive at a total of 100%.

Be honest and realistic in your estimates.

• Dog related activity
• Reading
• Writing
• Fiber Arts
• Driving
• Food related activity
• Teaching
• Errands

Once completed, I had 16.67% unaccounted for.

What was I doing during those missing four hours?

Typical things like exercise, spirituality and personal hygiene didn’t make the list because there’s a lot of overlap in the other categories.

Then I realized I forgot fussing.

Fussing is the art of creative problem solving even when there doesn’t really seem to be a problem to solve.

Being fussy is not the same thing. That’s just looking too closely at any situation, for no good reason. 

Fussing allows you to use your energy wisely, taking care of things that need to be taken care of, ideally in a way that isn’t tiresome.

As a rule, I fuss in 20 minute intervals; for instance, while going through pocketbooks, emptying the dishwasher, mopping the floor, planning get rich quick schemes, playing the ukelele, vacuuming, staring into space, stacking wood, trying on outfits, cleaning out the garage, or rearranging the furniture.

You wouldn’t believe how much I get done during those short sessions. It makes me feel productive, efficient, challenged and accomplished.

Fussing is an art to be shared.

Last winter my friend Nadia and I returned to our hotel in Boston after a day of shopping.

“We have 45 minutes until dinner, this is a perfect time for fussing!” I announced.

“Put all your purchases on the bed and open them one by one. Take off price tags. Fold up the packaging. Find where you are going to store the item for the time being, in your suitcase, pocketbook, or on your person.”

“I like to keep them as they are until I get home. Then it’s like opening gifts at Christmas,” she explained.

She had a point but I knew better.

“If you wait until you get home, you have to do the recycling yourself. Here, they do it. One less chore and we can spend time oohing and aahing over our purchases together!”

I’m pretty sure I changed her life.

I realize now why housework didn’t make my list, I only tidy-up when I’m fussing.

Try this for yourself.

Choose your own categories.

Do your results surprise you?

Marvel at the realization that math really is handy.