Do You Really Accomplish Anything Putzing Around The House?

 

My wonderful father is a big "putzer." He can spend the entire day in the garage doing what seems to amount to nothing. He can rinse and repeat the putzing in his large garden, the shed, the long driveway up to our rural family home, not to mention his hobby of learning computers.

But I am not really making fun of Dad (seriously, nor do I dare, he's a amazing man), because I think on a smaller scale, I do the same. I don't know if putzing means you just want to be by yourself, it feels therapeutic, or maybe in my case, you feel great satisfaction from doing little things that amount to something. I've never asked Dad why he does it, nor would he care to discuss it, seriously.

For those that do not know, Urban Dictionary defines "putzing" as fooling about, tinkering, messing with, tooling around and dabbling. Some people claim that nothing would ever get done if it were not for putzing.

Experts that specialize in time management say you cannot accomplish anything if you don't concentrate on specific project chunks. Another words, nothing gets finished if you're tinkering. We're not so sure of that.

So are you a putzing kind of person? Is putzing a waste of time? Or do you contribute to the greater good? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Image above of Runyon Canyon Los Angelees courtesy Alex de Cordoba and Flickr

Related Posts:

My Father's Secret Garden

If you've enjoyed this post and want to see more, why not subscribe to our daily emails (Feedblitz) or through the RSS Feed (click here)?  Or, follow us on Twitter!

Comments

[Courtney]

My Granddad is a putzer. He is always wandering around his house, fiddling with and fixing the smallest things. But he always has everything in working order -- so it definitely works for him!

[Claire Tompkins]

Sometimes I get more done by putzing because I don't have a "chore" or some kind of deadline that I might be inclined to flake on. And sometimes I get those tiny, yet annoying, tasks done, like finally throwing out the box my new cell phone came in. That felt good!

[Darryle Pollack]

I had no idea this word is in the dictionary. It makes me feel a little better --as if I'm "putzing" and not just wasting time. But after all these years, I've had to invent my own word for what I'm doing as a result of all the putzing: Cluttercasting.

[Onlinehandyman]

Although putzing is a slow process, anything that gets done is better than not getting anything done at all. Would it be better if your father sat on the couch and watched TV everyday? Then nothing would get done.

True it's better to go in strong and blast through the work. However, I still think something no matter how small is better than not getting anything done at all.

[Kerree]

I believe that you can't get anything useful done while putzing around. I can say this because I am the biggest putzer around and I've never amounted to anything :)

[Jessica]

My mom is a definitely a putzer, and she gets an amazing amount of work done in the house whenever she putzes. She re-arranges the bookshelves, dusts the coffee table and does a number of other small chores which make our house less like it has been ravaged by a storm.

[Eva Wallace]

Putzing, for me, contributes to great ideas and insights. It's a time to explore not only the things I'm tinkering with, but the related ideas flowing freely through my mind. It's a time to be alone and creative with my thoughts.