How much can a person do?

[Cypress]

A co-worker came in and talked a bit about what she and her hubby did this past holiday weekend. Granted, we had three straight days of warm, clear and dry weather, but I think either she was fibbing a bit or I am a laggard.

We washed all the windows in our house, resurfaced the driveway, painted the garage as well as uplifted the bricks along the walk way and repositioned. Apparently they had sunk down a bit. She recently moved into this house.

I looked at her and said yikes that is a lot! I washed my windows once this year meaning I took the entire window and screen out washing the casing and all. I have 10 windows. I might have gone a bit to far when I said what vitamins are you taking! I couldn't do half that.

How much can a person do?

[cdttmm]

Three days of hard labor by two adults on a beautiful fall weekend. Sure, that's doable. I suspect she and her DH are more motivated than most people right now, as is always the case when you have recently moved into a home. We used to get a lot more done on our weekends when we had just moved into our current home...now, not so much! Also, it sounds like some of the things they chose to do (resurfacing the driveway) were necessary to prepare for the lovely New England winter that I'm sure we'll all be enjoying soon. Have you seen this house? Is it big? Small? Ranch style? Two story? How long is the walkway? The driveway? All of this would play into how much you can accomplish in a weekend.

[Valley]

There are always people who get more done than my husband and I...and there are always people who get less done than my husband and I...I try to always talk with and compare to the people who got less done than us...works every time!!

[kally]

We get our windows washed 4 times a year by a pro and I work to make the money to pay for it. Much better deal.

[Aqua Blue]

In my 20's and early 30's. sure! In my late 50's I'm lucky to get that done in a week!!

[herbgeek]

They might have had a friend or two helping them with some of the tasks as well, but just not mentioned that.

[Stella]

Admittedly I have no idea how much time it takes to resurface a driveway, but it doesn't sound unreasonable to me. When DH and I are both in the mood to get things done we can really tackle a to-do list.

My friend's parents always amaze me with their energy. I remember one day they went to work, on bike 10+ miles each way, mind you, came home and installed hardwood floors in her kitchen, living room and hallway and painted the bedrooms. In the time after work! They grew up on farms. Maybe that helps.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Well I'd probably view a 3 day weekend as about 1 day to work (since I take nearly 2 days getting plenty of rest and idleness recovering from a week and then having a little fun). 5 days of full time work and commute takes that kind of recovery IMO.

Can they do it seems to me more a question of who in their right mind would want to? But hey I guess they do. What a brag: I had no fun this weekend, absolutely no fun at all, and I didn't even rest either! Well um ... sucks to be you?

Now something like working on gardening actually can be fun, but that stuff? No ........

[razz]

Well, it is up to the individual energy level.

As a 67 year old, yesterday was insane but I got it all done:
-One hour of prayer and meditation,
-fed/walked the dog for a mile,
- came back to wash 7 quart jars and filled with applesauce made the day before for DH to pressure can,
-drove to town to have an hour of yoga,
-went to the library to make photocopies for two meetings later in the day,
-sprayed horticultural oil on some interior plants at the library that had developed scale or mites and watered some,
-did some grocery shopping and printed 30 photos from a memory stick,
-went home to walk the dog for another mile,
-made lunch and started supper,
-back into town for the meetings from 2-4pm,
-home to feed the dog, finish supper for ourselves and guest,
-cleaned up and went to an early movie with guest,
-came home and walked the dog for about 10 minutes,
-checked my email,
-had a shower and hit the sack.
Today, is going to be a quiet day, thank goodness.

[Cypress]

Now I say the point is not what a person can do in a day. Was it worth your time to do these things? Did these actions create happiness or satisfaction? At the end of the day, if you review your actions, do you find that is a day well done?

It's all in the context of the day.

I was happy it was mild and sunny and I got to move around freely outdoors. Most of all, the sun was our friend this weekend. Peace

[Stella]

Why would that necessarily be a brag? It sounds more like just a normal conversation about what went on over the weekend.

Cypress, are you suggesting that doing that much wouldn't be worth the person's time? Why? Maybe it was satisfying to them to get a lot done. I know when I get in work mode I find it fun to see how much I can accomplish and I love the feeling afterwards of having completed something big. Why do you care?

[Gardenarian]

A lot of people say "we painted the garage" when what they really mean is, "we had the garage painted." Not that they're trying to fool anyone, exactly. I'll say "I went to the Farmer's Market and changed my oil" but I don't mean I changed the oil myself.

It's fruitless to compare ourselves with others anyway, or with ourselves at other times in our lives.

[Mrs-M]

I tend to take peoples mentions, all in stride. (Face value depending on who it is). Sometimes one knows when someone is pulling ones leg, but there are a good number of hardworking people/neighbours I know who accomplish a great deal from day to day, more than most could accomplish in a week or even a month. They go from morning till night, and they work steady and hard.

Something else to carefully consider when it comes to workloads and accomplishments, is to what level of quality and thoroughness are the jobs being hammered-out/completed. It's one thing to brag about how much one can do/accomplish, but if the jobs/projects are done in a haphazard/substandard way, then there's little room for bragging rights IMO.

[Spartana]

I have a tendency to do a huge amount of stuff - dreaded chores - at once because I find that it leaves me more free time to do stuff I enjoy. I'm like the energizer bunny at those times - so I can be Lazy Lindi at the other times :-)! If I told someone what I did on a certain "chore frenzy" it would seem like alot but I like to get it all done at once and not have to think about it again for months - or years.

[babr]

dh hated mondays when everyone would brag about what they "Did" not to knock people who like to be active; but i would rather be then spend the weekend or any other day with that amount of activity

one of our weekends would be to go to the library; the food coop; listen to books on tape or read; dh watches a library dvd rental; so proud of him; he used to spend hours watching sports; it amazes me; he spends such a short amount of time; well we can't get half the stuff on our reduced cable; but he has taken an interest in evolution etc. its wonderful to see

but you doers go get em

[Tiam]

Good lord. I love being lazy. There is so much I could do! And I don't.

I can list what I did today:

Laundry,
made bread croutons for stuffing for thanksgiving.
Made cornbread for stuffing for thanksgiving.
cleaned the entire kitchen and bagged up all return cans into boxes...(big job, that)
Grocery shopping/putting groceries away.
.Cleaned the porch.
.Made beans for bean dip.
.Made tahini and boiled chickpeas for hummous.
.played with Grandson.
.Went to store to buy new burners for stove.
.Back to home and covered Grandson with leaves!
.Worked on homework.
.Watched a TV show.
.Dug holes for tulips
.Took out trash
.Scrubbed toliet
.Took a shower.
.Went on line.
.Paid a bill.
.Made a list.


The best part? Covering Grandchild with leaves and wishing I had a camera to snap a shot of it. But it was pell mell. I got things accomplished, but I still feel discombobulated. I still don't know where half of what I want to get my hands on is. Do I feel satisfied? Not really. Could I be more organized. 100% YES, YES, YES. And at work too. So need to be better at work. I'm better than I was, can always get better.

I do hear people talk about all they did or accomplished on weekends. I just want to get the house straightened up, the car washed, and my homework caught up. I don't want to go anywhere!

[Fawn]

As for People Who Get Things Done--you go... you! Go!

As for me, a middle aged woman, single parent to four(three still at home teenagers)...I no longer have a need to prove to anybody that I can work hard, or Get Things Done. I am quite pleased with myself if I get a jammie day (like today) which involves: rest, reading, simple prep work for the week ahead, lunching with a friend at the local Indian resturaunt, loafing....reading. Did I mention nothing checked off the "To Do" list?