Alert: Poor attempt at writing today. Too many distractions, mentally drained and not well-fed - those are my excuses.
My multi-tasking skills were put to test today. The morning started off pretty simple. I didn't have to pack my lunch box or get my Krav gear in order. All I had to do was shower, grab my bag, my keys and take the train to arrive at work in time. I spent my free 3 hours reading a book. Ah, it was lovely. I knew I could've gone for a run but lying on the couch with a cuppa, reading a sweet Scottish romance novel was more enjoyable.
The book was intriguing (read: the knight without his shining armour was really sexy and the poor maid was finally falling in love with him), so once again I found myself running for the train at the last minute. Yet again, the train arrived seconds after I did. Lucky two days in a row. Howzzat! I arrived at work, hoping to sign in and duck out to grab a quick brekkie at maccas before I started my day. It was a slow day, by the looks of the way it started, and weekend was almost here.
The moment I stepped in at work, fifty things landed on me at once! Missed calls on my landline, a missing person at the desk next to me and too many emails in the team mailbox. This was going to be a fun day. Not! I could feel it in my bones, even before I switched over from my mailbox to the team's common inbox. From the issues I had been trying to resolve yesterday to the work items to be implemented next week and everything in between (which included a sever production problem), there was a load of work to be done and no other team member. Well, not a worry. How long has it been since I've run on adrenalin? I shook with excitement. This should be good, I think, as I start mentally assigning priorities to the tasks at hand. Tackle them one at a time and all should be well. That's the me of recent times, multi-tasking go to hell. Well, that's what seems to work here. We have all the spare time in the world.
This was not one of those days. My multi-tasking skills were being tested. Bring it on! I'm the queen of multi-tasking. I started working on task 1, when I saw an email that I had to address right away. Re-shuffle priorities. Write email and back to task 1, which was sort of running in the background partly. While I'm doing 1 & 2, someone related to task 3 drops by for an update. Shuffle shuffle. The priorities were clear, that couldn't be changed except they were now 1a, 1b and 1c. Juggle juggle juggle. More people, more emails, phone calls and IMs, it was non-stop. When finally, I took a moment out to make my own phone call to check on some instructions, my bird had flown the nest. Fortunately, it was headed my way, so I had to wait for it to find it's way back and I was all set.
Multi-tasking can either be simple or complicated, depending on the situation. If I made my priority list & started juggling my tasks in such a manner that I operated on one while I was waiting on the other, it works marvellously. Try aligning my priorities with someone else's and hell happens to my multi-tasking abilities. To complicate it further, chuck a few more people with their own priority lists into the mush. Make sure there are a couple of jokers in there and a dick or three. Get a little adventurous. Bring in managers banging the table and co-workers with secret recipes they won't share. All set.
That's how it was nearly 3 'O' clock before I managed to find my way into the kitchen and stick my lunch box in the microwave. I snuck out to check on something while the food warmed and only remembered the stuff in the oven a good hour later. I had to warm the food again. Shit happens. This time, I waited by the oven. By 5:30, I had eaten and managed to take a loo break. A lot of work had gotten done today. All loose ends were tied. I had crossed off every single item on my tasks and some sub-items that added themselves to the list. I had wiped clean every crumb of work from my table top and was ready to head home.
The plan for the evening was to spend it in exactly the same way as the morning. Which meant that I had to finish my writing before I left work. So here I am. I managed my last 2 days without any distractions. Today, there have been a few. Multi-tasking never works when I'm writing, so this one's going to be a shit piece. At least I wrote. I'm drained. Maybe I'll buy myself a McFlurry on the way home. I should try something different today but I am drained. My brain cannot process any more data. Thinking is beyond me. Tomorrow will be better. If not, there is always alcohol.
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