Just too little time.

TTony

So, I enjoy playing my guitar(s).  I realise that I'm not brilliant and that I need to practice/learn more.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

I enjoy making guitars.  I realise that I'm a mere amateur compared to some here and that I need to practice/learn more.   Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

I really want to get into the "of the month" challenges here.  Whether it's recording or mixing or covering other stuff.  I have a go sometimes, but I need to practice/learn more.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

I've got synths here that I want to learn how to use.  Properly.  And iSynths too.  Great fun when I get a good sound out of them, but it should be more by design rather than random luck, so I need to understand sound sythnesis.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

In fact, I'd quite like to learn how to play a piano/keyboard.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

I have other hobbies (no, really, I do) - photography, general woodwork and furniture making.  I know enough to know that I don't know enough and need to learn more.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

And a whole stack of books to read.  Some for fun or relaxation.  Some for education.  They need to be read.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

There's other stuff - life stuff - that I ought to do.  Like cooking (Mrs TT does 99% of it), which I enjoy when I do it, but my repertoire is limited and needs expanding.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

I've got 101 jobs to do "around the home".  And garden.  This place will be wonderful when it's all done, so I've got a long jobs list.  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.

There are loads of places I want to go and see.  Not remote, other side of the world places, just around and about here, to spend some time and "experience".  Which I'll do.  When I get the time.



Is there ever enough time?

interstellar

only when you make it

Jetsam1

You described my life.

Quiet sob.

guitarfishbay

With hobbies you have to decide what makes you happier, the variety or the journey towards some concept of ‘mastery’, whatever that may be.

I liken any skill based hobby to trying to pour water in to a bucket with a leak halfway up the side. You need to consistently pour water in to keep it full, but if you stop pouring you’ll never truly end up with an empty bucket. It just depends if you’re satisfied with your skills or knowledge being below where that point is.

boogieman

Retirement helps. 
Otherwise you have to prioritise what’s most important to you.  

TTony

guitarfishbay said:

With hobbies you have to decide what makes you happier, the variety or the journey towards some concept of ‘mastery’, whatever that may be.

That's probably THE question.

Jack of a few trades, or semi-competent at one (or maybe two).  I'm not sure you can ever master some of them - guitar playing or making or anything that's really creative.  But the more you learn, the more you understand how little you know and how much more there is to learn!

TTony

boogieman said:

Retirement helps. 

Counting the days ...

Bellycaster

For all of us, it's like that episode of The Twilight Zone starring Burgess Meredith.


Time Enough at Last....Cruel ending though.

brooom

I have the same problem, ultimately, playing guitar/bass is probably the one I like the most. I love the feeling I get from creating a riff or playing with other people when things just click.

So yeah pick the ones that you like the most. The others will probably be a bit more intermittent.

bingefeller

You've said things that I have thought about too much in the past and it makes me a bit depressed to be honest.  

midiglitch

For me, I've come to realise that as I get older I have to make sacrifices.
There's two ways: you can choose your sacrifices, or you can have life impose them on you. 
And it seems to me that you need to choose your sacrifices carefully and early if you want to achieve anything of real genuine lasting value.

jdgm

boogieman said:

Retirement helps. 
Otherwise you have to prioritise what’s most important to you.  

You still have to do this in retirement but...no there's never enough time.

Was made redundant 2014 age 60, took the deal and scraping by....plenty to do, still in 'how did I ever get time to work?' stage.....harder to follow through as I get older but 2 hrs (out of anything in above list) a day is an achievement.

thomasross20

I (stupidly) usually work over at work for no extra money. After Sheena passed away I thought I should do something big but I've sunk back into routine. Time is most precious but still have to be practical. At the very least I should leave work on time. 
That's a good post @midiglitch .
I was always very driven, set goals and made time for things. But for obvious reasons just don't have the drive half the time now.
Time doesn't seem important until you get told it's going to be cut very short very soon. Would you have regret if you were told this tomorrow? I wouldn't, but have to keep pushing or one day the answer might be yes.

richardhomer

I find one of the pressures I tend to put myself under as I get older is to ‘always be doing something’ - as time seems very much a finite commodity at 54. The flip side of this, is quiet relaxation is something I do very little of - and in order to feel less tired - probably something I need to do more of. Listening to music, reading books, etc are precisely the things I tend not to get round to, in an effort to do ‘more productive’ things.

The plus side of how I arrange my life, is that I don’t have time to dwell on the unsatisfactory nature of much of it - in particular the lack of a relationship.

The other thing which occurs to me, is if I were to stop posting drivel on here, I’d have a lot more time....

midiglitch

@thomasross20 I followed your thread about Sheena (with incredible sadness), and it was a big influence on me.  Time is precious.  It is rare that we can get a sense of the effects of the ripples of our actions at such great distance and time, but I hope you have some sense of that. Your actions certainly had a positive impact on my life.

I've found it so hard to make sacrifices, especially when I look at my youth, where I undoubtedly racked up the fabled 10,000 hours in pursuits that I now realise are essentially frivolous, superficial and meaningless.  It's hard to just turn your back on that and walk away.

I've made a choice (for the time-being at least) not to have children, so I feel an especially acute sense of pressure to do something of lasting value with my time. 

(It seems to me that when you have children you gain responsibility, and therefore find meaning and a place in the world.  The Ying to that particular Yang is that it comes at the cost of sacrificing some of those childhood dreams.  I believe Meaning comes with sacrifice, they are two sides of the same coin.)

So I'm trying to get my head around doing less of the things which I enjoy, but which will ultimately never amount to much, and more of the thing that will.  What has surprised and encouraged me is how quickly success can come and snowball, and how deeply the effects can run of giving yourself fully to one thing every day.  It begs the question of what could a person achieve, if he really set to it?  I still get distracted too easily: I'm writing this from an airport in Japan at the end of two weeks holiday, and when I get back I have a track day booked in and band practise... things I love doing, but consciously know are frivolous distractions from doing the work I could be doing to leave the world in a better place as a result of having had the privilege of  living in it.

Hmmm.

Sorry for the thread hijack. It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately and it's helpful (if a bit selfish) to try and articulate those thoughts.

jonnyburgo

Most of us do have the time, we just waste it on nonsense, myself included. How many people complain of having no time devote hours in front if the telly every evening or staring into their phone? The goal for me is to retire at 60 (if not before)and live a modest life in Northern Spain, which will give me lots of time although how much Brexit has scuppered that plan remains to be seen. A massive thing of importance is keeping your health and fitness, no point retiring and kicking the bucket 18 months later because youve let yourself get into typical old man shape.

axisus

I relate to virtually all of those things in the first post (I can give cooking a miss!)

What makes me a bit sad is that 1) I'm feeling rather old now at 55 and 2) I have learned now after all these years that I just can't organise my life in a structured way.

Oh well.

stickyfiddle

jonnyburgo said:

Most of us do have the time, we just waste it on nonsense, myself included. How many people complain of having no time devote hours in front if the telly every evening or staring into their phone?

Wis for that. I really struggle to motivate myself to do things in the evenings, because it's easier to sit around and watch rubbish.

I sat down at the piano for the first time in about 3 years a few days ago. I really enjoyed it and half an hour went by in a flash. Must do that much more often, plus the pedal kits I have in the cupboard, and properly learning to use my Echosystem pedal, etc etc

Chalky

Sounds like you are a butterfly thinker.  Too many interests, not enough focus. 

Simplest method is to make a spreadsheet of everything you are interested in doing, one item per row e.g. specific book, specific house fix, etc, put a 1-100 priority against each one, and sort them by priority.  This will help make the TOUGH decisions on which ones are more important than others. 

And it IS tough when you are a butterfly thinker, who allows new interests in without discerning where they fit in your plan.  The reluctance to commit to "No, I'm not adding that book to my reading list because it is not more important than my top 3/5/10 books I want to read before it" is the nub of the problem.

Easier to blame time than take the tough decisions on how you use the time you have.

gringopig

.

Stevepage

I've got a 14 month old daughter who takes up most of my free time now. I may get an hour in the evening to do something, if I'm not tired after working a 10 hour day. 

Weekends, much the same except I spend more time with my daughter.

Still haven't got used to not playing guitar for 3 hours every day just yet. I have to forget about other hobbies for now unfortunately. I really don't get the time to unless I want to stay up till late at night, but then I'm too tired for work the next day