6:01am (Ring, ring, ring, ring!!!!!)
Turn off the alarm clock. Go back to sleep for another 15 minutes
Once again, have slept in longer than anticipated. Groggily make my way to the shower.
Eat breakfast and briefly consider writing the email to K, which I've put off for ages. Just haven't had the time. Turn on the TV and watch a bit of the local news. Three car accidents, one house fire, two robberies, a shooting, and a couple of morning show hosts talking about nothing of consequence
Begin the morning walk to work. Try to formulate some ideas for the article on how to deal with procrastination (promised my editor that I would write it a month ago).
Psychologists say that not all procrastinators are alike. Some avoid work out of fear of failure, and others do so because they simply can't make decisions. And more people are chronic procrastinators than is commonly assumed. All very interesting stuff.
However, am quickly distracted from my thoughts by a) a pedestrian of the opposite sex, b) a shifty looking fellow standing next to an ATM, c) a sign announcing a new restaurant opening, d) another pedestrian of the opposite sex, etc.
Nonetheless, come up with a brilliant idea – survey my coworkers to see how they deal with procrastination.
Armed with a coffee, I go see the salesman. Salesmen are always on the ball. Our salesman is characteristically well groomed. He must have his stuff together! Probably devised a way to avoid procrastinating a long time ago.
His solution: "How about getting into work early so that I can get my 'soccer surfing' out of the way and get on with my day!"
Not exactly what I'd hoped for. (As a staff writer, duty calls for surfing throughout the day.)
Sit down at my desk and decide to go with our salesman's answer, anyway. However, before beginning to write, feel that emails should be checked. Amazing. The spammers, at least, are having productive mornings.
Not getting anywhere with the article, decide to seek out interviewee number two: our accountant. Accountants, after all, are in charge of the finances – and they put together the payroll – there can be no room for dilly-dally. She must have some way to deal with procrastinating.
Her answer: "I begin freaking out at a very quickly accelerating scale (it's more like – all of sudden – it strikes me), and that pretty much does the job. I don't put the book down until I catch up or get a bit ahead of my schedule."
Not quite sure if this is useful. Even less sure about the fact that our accountant freaks out from time to time. Then again, what do I know about accounting?
Back at my desk. More emails. Decide to briefly surf the morning news. Think about my own solution to procrastinating, and realize that I don't have one. I do, however, recall that whenever I have difficulty writing an article, my office becomes incredibly organized and clean. Suddenly realize that the arrangement of my desk isn't all that efficient in terms of work processes. (I learned about work processes while surfing the internet yesterday afternoon.)
Also decide to change the wallpaper on my computer screen.
Time for drastic measures. Decide to interview the boss. Knock on the president's door. Brief pleasantries are exchanged. Her response to procrastination: "I make a list of all of the things I have to do and then force myself to do first the ones I don't like. They don't tend to take very long, but I can agonize about them forever. Getting them done is a real relief and then I can enjoy doing the tasks I like!" She then looks at her watch, and lets me know that she has to meet with someone else.
Email from my editor asking me to go see her. "How's the article on procrastination coming?" "It's not quite ready." A pause. "Look, Mark, I know that there are distractions everywhere we turn – spam email, useful email, internet, phones. And the boss has us doing 50 different things at once with no one to help us. So I'll tell you the simple solution that I have to avoid procrastination: Just do it! Just write the damned article! It works all the time."
Finally, words of wisdom to live by.
Article is finished. Our salesman is busy chatting up a client, our accountant looks relaxed, the president is busy, and my editor is happy. Time for lunch.