On Waiting
How often do you find yourself waiting? If you experience waiting in your life (whether in car traffic, in a queue, or waiting on a process) you’ve accepted a condition.
You’ve chosen to live in a place, work in a place, and structure your life in a way that makes waiting a normal part of your day.
But is it necessary?
Every moment you spend idling (stuck in traffic, sitting in a waiting room, or lining up for routine errands) is time you’re not creating, thinking, or doing meaningful work.
A fulfilled life is one where your time is spent on high-value activities: thinking, building, innovating, improving yourself, and having fun.
Some might argue that you can “make good use” of traffic by listening to audiobooks or podcasts. But if you’re driving, your main cognitive load is dedicated to staying safe, following the flow, and reacting to external conditions. Your brain is occupied with the mechanics of the task, not free for deep thinking or creating. And it doesn’t give the health benefits of going for a walk or a bike ride.
This isn’t just about commuting. It’s about any systemic inefficiency that eats into your most valuable resource: time.
- Waiting in grocery store lines
- Sitting in meetings that don’t move the needle
- Repetitive school drop-offs and pickups
- Following rigid schedules dictated by others
The more of these bottlenecks you tolerate, the more your time is consumed by processes instead of purpose.
The alternative? Designing your life to minimize waste.
- Live where you don’t need a car (your time is probably worth more than the higher rent)
- Work in a way that eliminates unnecessary meetings.
- Automate or outsource routine tasks.
- Reduce waiting through smart planning.
For me, that meant moving to a city like Singapore, where I can bike safely instead of drive. It meant rejecting long-haul work related travel that kept me away from my kids. It meant prioritizing flexibility over convention.
Looking back, the most wasteful years of my life were when I was constantly in transit—airports, security lines, boarding zones, traffic jams. Now, my time is spent reading, exercising, working on meaningful projects, and being present with my family.
Many people spend their best years waiting in queues, stuck in traffic, or doing tasks they never questioned. But if you can step back, recognize the waste, and redesign your life, you’ll realize how much more time you have for what really matters.
If you see inefficiencies in your daily life, change them. Your time is too valuable to be spent waiting.