As The Page Turns

I have one of those page-a-day calendars at work. Changing the calendar each day is part of my morning work routine. The advice offered on these pages is sometimes helpful and sometimes amusing or entertaining. At the very least, it helps pass the time if only for a few seconds.

I typically scan the message of the day and quickly decide whether it applies to me; however, today’s message made me pause:

“To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious,” Samuel Butler.

While I think there’s a lot of truth to this sentiment, my first response was an attempt at humor. “Well, I have the idle part mastered,” I softly chuckled to myself. But on second thought I know that in this age of multi-tasking and continuous activity, I’m rarely idle. I feel that I should be constantly buzzing with action--down time is something I do not experience very often. This is true of my time on the clock as well as off the clock.

In fact, I’ve often thought that I could do a much better job and enjoy my work more if there wasn’t so much on my plate . If only I had more time in which to think about the task or solution. There’s so much work that there just isn’t enough time to really think about my actions. More times than not, I start the work and later alter my path to ensure I’m doing it right, sometimes doing all or part of the work over to ensure it is done correctly. In the end I wind up doing an okay job, but taking a little longer when I think I could do a better job in less time if the wheels could just slow down to allow for some thinking time.

Today’s page makes me realize that maybe thinking time is something I should demand. Maybe it’s something I should find and take for myself in spite of the work. It’s certainly something I will consider as the next few pages turn.

Comments

[Theresa]

Lemme know if you figure out a way to accomplish that! :--)