Putters & Leavers

This post was written on Tuesday 4th January

I went to write a list of 100 lessons I’ve learnt in 2010, but then I realised something. There is really only one lesson I learnt in 2010 that actually matters…

The lesson I learnt is to not take life too seriously. I had some bad experiences in 2010, but being able to laugh about them stops them affecting you as much. The quicker you can realise that what is done is done, the sooner you can get on with enjoying life.

I watched a fantastic comedian on Live At The Apollo the other day, Jon Richardson. And what he said was that there are 2 types of people in the world: Putters, and Leavers.

Putters are perfectionists. They know where they put their keys and they are tidy people. Leavers, however, are too busy enjoying life to care about where they leave things.

5m50s is Putters & Leavers – (video link updated)

No question I used to be a putter. Before I went to university and even within my first year I kept my room tidy, planned occasions, and generally kept track of my life. But recently I’ve become more of a leaver. I’m still a putter at heart, but I don’t have the time to be the perfectionist I once was with my life.

I realised that spending time with people, meeting people and spending time with friends was far more valuable in the long term than fussing about if I’d defragmented my hard drive recently. Perfection is short-lived in life, you can clean your room, sure, but is spending 2 hours cleaning your room to the n^th degree better than taking 20 minutes to put stuff away as you get ready to go out? Especially when you know that in a week it’ll need tidying again. Life is short. Spend it with people and do new things, you’ll thank yourself in the long run.

I think it all depends on how much time you can really dedicate yourself to something before it’s better spent on something else. And maybe by not taking life too seriously you’ll be able to dedicate your time to more things and then you’ll be enjoying life more.

Maybe everyone is a putter and a leaver to a certain extent, it just depends how you handle mistakes that defines you. And if you take life too seriously, you won’t handle the mistakes as well. Am I on the right lines?

• Happiness. 8 out of 10
• Tiredness. 1 out of 5
• Free Time. 3 out of 5
• Last Meal. Toast
• Song of the day. Paolo Nutini – Last Request
• Thought for the day. Do the things you will regret, because life isn't made by maybe, could have's or might be's. We only regret the chances we didn't take to listen to the person we might have been.
• What I’m Doing Now. Cleaning my room, ironically!