Monday, January 19, 2015

On Holidays and Rushing

Today is a not a rush day.
It is a holiday for some, at least for schools and government offices.  Not for us, so off to work I will have to go.  But since school and government are not there, the commute will be a lot less difficult.

I suppose I could have rushed in early this morning - after all, with no school there is no requirement for me to drop off Nighean Bhean and Nighean Dhonn and I could have got to work very early indeed, ready to catch up on all kinds of things.

But why, really?

The reality is that the work will be there regardless of when I show.  And I am being reminded again - painfully - that it is not the volume of things that you do but what you do that people perceive is important that makes the difference.  Which sets up a sort of marvelous comparison on a day such as today, do you not think?  Here on a day when a lot of people are not working the idea of putting in a significant effort when I can is not a matter of particular importance to me.

Rushing - that is a word that seems to be coming up for me a great deal these days, whether from a chance comment which lead to a thought process or realizing that rushing denies me the very joy of the activities that I like to do to even looking at the list of things I compiled for the year and seeing that the only way to accomplish all of them is to rush through everything.  That does not really seem to be the quite right way to live.

True at work too, oddly enough - the concept of multi-tasking (look, you will find it on most any job description these days) has taken root to the point that finding the time and concentration to move from one task to another, even if done completely, is seen more often as a liability than a skill.

Where does this all lead?  I am not sure.  Certainly I cannot just slow down in my life at work.  I can more effectively do this in my personal life - but with that comes the acceptance of the fact that I will seem (perhaps initially) to accomplish less.

But I have to believe that accomplishing less but accomplishing more deeply is more to be desired than rushing to do the surface of too many things.

2 comments:

  1. Heh I think multi-tasking was a code word for the female employees who want to be in charge and have someone else do all the real work :)

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    1. It is funny Preppy - I actually have a male friend who is my direct report who can multitask. The Ravishing Mrs. TB can as well. Myself, my mind simply does not work that way no matter how hard I try to force it. Interestingly, I think a lot of people think they are much better at multitasking than they are.

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