How to Benefit While Waiting in Line At The Post Office
Earlier this summer, I wanted to send my Dad the new Anthony Bourdain book.
He loves food and travel, so it seemed like the perfect gift for Father’s Day.
So, I went with my wife to the post office. Much to our chagrin, there was a line. Not a long line, mind you. But enough that we had to wait.
The problem was… it was taking SUPER long (to the point where the peeps running the show at the post office had to ask us, and thank us for our patience several times before we were helped).
When you find yourself in situations like this one… waiting in a long line for longer than you care for, it can be INCREDIBLY easy to get frustrated.
To get angry or even furious about how slow the people in line are being
To start vortexing and lashing out about how much time you’re wasting in line…
And about all the things you still have left to do…
Time waiting in line is often what some call “DEAD Time.”
Time that you don’t get much, if anything, out of.
Time that, ultimately, you think is wasted.
All too often, our days are peppered with dead time. Especially when we have to run errands.
BUT
I got awesome news for you.
You see, waiting in line doesn’t HAVE to be dead time.
We can RECLAIM IT!
We can REVIVE IT!
We can TRANSFORM it into ALIVE Time!
Time that is well-spent.
Time that you use to grow.
Time that, ultimately, you feel you made the best of.
This is exactly what I did when I was waiting in line at the post office.
I did so by using a simple but powerful technique I like to call
“value-shielding.”
This technique essentially layers a beneficial activity on an otherwise unpleasant or boring experience.
By doing this, you shield yourself from the boredom and the badness of the experience by enjoying the benefits of the activity.
So, when I was waiting in line at the post office, I turned this dead time into alive time.
I value-shielded by giving my lovely wife a shoulder massage while we waited.
By focusing on massaging her shoulders in a way that soothed my wife’s pain (she tends to get a knot in her right shoulder in particular), I was able to spend time in line while focusing on doing something pretty awesome, something nice for someone I love (while also getting some massage-giving practice).
By value-shielding in this way, my wife and I were able to turn the dead time of numbly waiting in line into the alive time of giving/getting a massage.
This is just one example of how to value-shield.
There are plenty of other ways you can do so.
You can listen to music you love and that inspires you.
You can listen to an audiobook that entertains you.
You can even take the time to low-key meditate in line by focusing on your breath.
All these are powerful examples of how to value-shield while waiting in long lines. Whether it be at the post office, in the grocery store, or even at the airport.
My clients and I regularly engage in value-shielding, and let me tell you, waiting in line has never been this fun.
If you learn to harness the power of this technique, you’ll be able to transform some of the worst and most infuriating parts of your life into some of the best and most inspiring ones.
Hope you have fun value-shielding!
Santi Sanchez is a Ph.D. in Philosophy. He has spent almost twenty years dedicating his life to philosophical research and practice in order to figure out what makes a life truly good and how to make it even better.
If you’re interested in this and other ways to use philosophy to improve your life, download my free “Philosophical Guide to Building a Truly Good Life On Your Own Terms” right here: https://www.promiseofphilosophy.com/free-guide-to-truly-good-life
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