It’s not an obscure fact that I don’t get much sun. Alright, so I stay indoors a lot, working on stuff.
Watching TV is too time consuming, plus you eventually get sucked into one show after another – and if you don’t, you just keep flipping the infinitely many channels until you find something. Rinse, wash, and repeat. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
I don’t condone wasting time on the web either, but considering my options – window shopping online is a nice way to decompress for a few minutes. Plus, consider this. Leaving your desk to go anywhere for a “breather” does involve some hidden overhead costs. Here’s why:
- Walk to the parking lot: ~5 +/-5 mins
- Getting your car out and driving somewhere: ~20 +/-5 mins.
- If during rush hour traffic add: ~15 +/-5 mins.
- Driving back to wherever it is you left: ~20 +/- 5 mins.
- Finding your parking spot (which you gave up earlier, ha! didn’t think of that didja): ~5 mins.
- Walking back to your desk: ~5 +/-5 mins.
- (Factor in cost of gas)
I have been very conservative in my projections above. Plus, don’t forget to tack on how ever many minutes (or hours) you spent goofing off doing something when you get to wherever it is you went to.
Doesn’t seem all that bad after all, does it? Although decompressing this way does have its drawback – you get sucked into buying something nice to have that you don’t need, that you will completely forget about after a few weeks.
For me, the new Intel Core Duo Mac Mini is *just too damn irresistable*. Yes, I can proudly say (biting my tongue) that I didn’t buy one. Why? At the end of the day, it is just another shiny geek toy. I can do my mission critical tasks AND more, on my trusty ThinkPad. There’s nothing I can do with this cute irresistable toy that I can’t do with my ThinkPad. In other words, I can’t justify this expenditure just yet.
I suggest doing this as a quick 10-15 minute to decompress – possibly forgetting any negative feelings someone inflicted on you (or negative feelings you intend to inflict). Acting on emotions is generally bad for business anyway.
So anyway, if you’re new to this, I recommend eDealinfo and Ben’s Bargains.
Disclaimer: This article is not meant for people suffering from a serious condition of impulse-shopping.