Take time to reflect

Kids are back in school and I'm back at the keyboard after a month with no connectivity and the sound of wind in the trees for conversation. Yes, a cabin in the woods near a lake.

Time to reflect is rare - especially if you have an assignment in a for-profit company where the pace is fast and the lines between personal and work time become blurred. Like the shoulder stretches we're supposed to do every 20 minutes (?) when sitting at a computer for hours at a time, letting our minds take a moment to free associate, putting worries on the back burner so creativity can simmer or genuinely sitting down for structured reflection rarely gets priority.

A few places we can squeeze in the time? 

• 5 extra minutes in the washroom (not kidding)
• before falling asleep (keep pen & paper by your bed in case you're hit by inspiration)
• block 15 minutes in your calendar at the end of the work day
• a walk before or after a meal
• use the 10 minutes that always seems to loom before the start of your favourite TV show

As children, we spent lots of time day dreaming and letting thoughts percolate. As adults, we've changed our mindset to need an immediate answer and to skip 'lessons learned' when time is tight. We can't know we're moving forward if we don't know the direction from whence we came...

Procrastination

I just broke a few personal records in Snood... that's after playing an hour of Monster Burner... The reason I sat down at the computer was Not to play games but to rewrite a paper... which still isn't done. :-)  I hear Carly Simon singing in my head but "Anticipation" is replaced with "Procrastination."(someone must have done the parody by now?)

Normally, I'm a fan of a little procrastination. Letting my mind idly wander for an hour often percolates some ideas. Getting off the treadmill of having to 'get things done' and be productive 24/7 has been proven in many studies to actually make us more productive. Daydreaming is a desired activity (though it's weird to call daydreaming an 'activity').

Other times, procrastination is a sign that we are actively avoiding a certain task (vs. being lazy or disorganized). Sometimes it's worth having the conversation as to why a certain task falls to the bottom of the list (budgets and spreadsheets, anyone?)

Some times, procrastination is simply a sign that we are overloaded and it's time to take a break.

That might be the mentoring conversation I need to have next - asking why a task is being avoided instead of chastising /being chastised for not making a deadline.

Either way, as long as missing the deadline (real or self-imposed) will not cause a plane to fall from the sky or empires to burn, perhaps a few moments of Chicktionary might be the right way to think this through...