WASTING time. We all do it, whether it is searching for something we have lost, being indecisive, or getting distracted from a task, we all fail to get things done because we wasted time doing something unnecessary.

January is a time for renewal, for New Year resolutions. I rarely make them, and when I do I usually break them soon after.

But this year things will be different, for the goals I am setting are not the usual things like base jumping down the north face of the Eiger and big-wave surfing in Hawaii, which require a bit of effort.

Instead I am setting targets that will save me time and stress - all simple, straightforward things that so far in life, I have failed to get on top of.

Avoid putting stuff down where it does not belong.

Barely a day goes by when I do not put down my car or door keys in a place that fails to register in my brain. I spend hours looking for them, mentally retracing my actions. I have found them in bizarre locations - the fridge, the food cupboard and the shed. Once I lost them for almost a week, having to use the spare set until I came across them at the bottom of the peg bag. It’s not just keys either - I recently lost a £10 note, and, after retracing my movements, found it in the waste bin.

Make a note of where I have parked my car when I visit the supermarket.

A small grey car isn’t the easiest thing to locate in a vast area containing thousands of similarly-sized grey vehicles. In total, this year, I have wasted at least five hours searching for my car. Once I was close to tears after half an hour scouring Tesco’s car park, and assumed it had been stolen. I always pledge to remember where I have left it, but always forget. The other night, shopping with my husband, I again forgot to make a note of my bearings. I hoped that he would remember where the car was, but he didn’t, and we spent 20 minutes looking before he found it hundreds of yards from where we both thought it had been left.

Make proper shopping lists.

So that I have ingredients for at least four meals, meaning I avoid having to run to neighbours or return to the shop for curry powder, tinned tomatoes, garlic or other bits and pieces. I am prone to buying lots of stuff, but not thinking about what I need for actual meals.

Clear out clutter from every room in the house.

This is a must. I am guilty of leaving things all over the place, in particular newspapers. My method of ‘tidying’ is to lift things from one surface and dump them on another. It wastes time and doesn’t achieve anything, so I am determined to actually throw stuff away. It will also mean that I waste less time picking up newspapers to look for things.

Stop procrastinating.

Everyone is guilty of trying to put off doing things, stalling for time, doing other, far less important stuff. I put off writing this column for a couple of hours, watching some complete rubbish on TV. I now intend to be strong and not drag my heels.

Stop watching rubbish on TV.

It is so easy to get sucked into those mindless programmes on double-figure channels, particularly after the ten o’clock news, when everyone else has gone to bed. Do I really need to see what knick-knacks that man found in that shipping container or learn how that woman lost 31 stone?

Hopefully, this New Year plan of action should leave me with loads of extra time, so I should be able to rattle off that bestselling novel and possibly manage a practice base jump from Pen-y-ghent.

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