What I Learned in January

I was surprised at a few of the things I learned this month. One in particular was great to realize at the start of a year, helping me implement changes I didn’t know I needed. We think we know ourselves…until faced with evidence that can’t be denied. Dare you discover the same about yourself?

I’m sharing a nifty app that might provide shocking results about you too, something I bet you don’t know about UPS trucks, and more. Here’s what I learned in January…

…that I don’t spend time like I thought I did ~ On the last day of 2014 I discovered Toggl, an app designed to track how you spend your time (and yes, it’s running right now). Originally designed to allow users to track billable hours for clients, it’s likewise useful for tracking all the hours of your days. Since our lives are made up of time, this app can basically give you a picture of what you’re doing with your life. During the month of January I tracked my time religiously, and I was shocked at what I saw.

I have over 40 categories (the app calls them projects)some of which are Bible, Prayer, Exercise, Internet, Bills and Paperwork, People, TV, Instagram, Writing, Reading Books, Errands, Household Chores… you get the idea. Before seeing the truth that this app provides, if someone had asked me how I spend my time I would have said that Internet and Reading Books would have been fighting for the lead while TV and People would have been trailing (well, except for cooking which my husband does nearly all the time). But you know what? I was so wrong!

Never in a million years would I have believed it about myself, but my #1…People!  Seriously? I’m not a phone chatter, company haver, and most of my friends are 1200 miles away.  At first I felt aggravated by this revelation, but upon further reflection I realize this is a good thing. How would I expect to fulfill the commandment to love others if I’m never with them?

Another surprising revelation…other than Bible and Prayer, my #4 was TV! What? I feel like I never watch TV, not even the news or Christian TV. Let me tell you, I now realize watching TV can waste time like nobody’s business. Sure, I have my favorites…Blue Bloods and Elementary (which I usually fall asleep halfway through….timer adjusted upon awaking), Suits (on only once this month), The Voice (not on at all this month), so all I can think is that it’s those insidious little half hour reruns of The Big Bang Theory (which I’ve just recently discovered) that are piling up and resulting in a neck and neck race with my time spent in the Bible and prayer. Really? I can hardly believe it. What I think I’ll do is create a new category for when I watch Big Bang. I’ll name it ‘Laugh‘. I wouldn’t mind seeing that in the top three. Let’s see…  Bible and Prayer ~ People ~ TV (Big Bang Theory)  = Live ~ Love ~ Laugh. Yeah, I like the sound of that much better…

…that something I thought modern and trendy is actually a bygone relic ~ We see them all over the internet, those popular Keep Calm quotes encouraging any and every activity known to man. They’ve become a part of our modern-day culture, but did you know they actually originated in 1930’s England as a poster designed to comfort and encourage British citizens facing the perils of World War II? The British government chose the simple message “Keep Calm and Carry On” as one of three designs containing different messages. The third, the Carry On design, was never used and never publicly seen until discovered fifty years later in a bookstore in England. The complete story of this iconic symbol can be seen in this utterly delightful video. The story of this poster’s history is more inspirational than the posters themselves. The fact that it was never used is a testament to the incredible spirit of the British people for, without ever seeing the poster we see everywhere, they did carry on.

…about a little known fact that helped win WWII ~ Speaking of WWII and the British, I was fascinated to learn about Alan Turing, the man who broke the code of the German cryptographic machine called Enigma. Enigma was used by the Nazis to send daily encrypted messages about war activities with the code changing daily making it nearly impossible to crack. Against all odds Turing and his team built a machine that cracked the code which turned out to be one of the main reasons for Britain’s victory. The story is told in the recent movie The Imitation Game. Another little known fact…the producers hid a URL in the movie’s trailer that would lead to a site offering a crossword puzzle similar to the one Turing required applicants to his team to solve, allowing them only twelve minutes to complete.

 …that UPS trucks don’t make left hand turns ~ You might know this (if you watch more TV than I do) since the show MythBusters tested and confirmed this is no myth. UPS created their own GPS to determine the most efficient routes for their trucks to take when delivering all those packages. It turns out (no pun intended) that turning left against traffic results in long waits in turn lanes, wasting time and fuel and leading to more accidents. In low traffic residential zones you might witness a left turn, but it’s estimated that 90% of the turns are to the right. Take note Nascar…

Linking with Emily Freeman  sharing What We Learned in January…