Back when I rode the bus regularly there would be at least a couple of times each week when I’d stay at work slightly longer than I should have. This was my own fault; my boss would sometimes stop by and say, “I’ve got one thing for you to do but it can wait ‘til tomorrow if you have to go,” and I’d say, “I can do it now!” This was partly because I knew that if I waited I’d forget what it was in the morning, and in most cases it would take me at least as long to write a detailed note to myself as it would to just go ahead and do it, but also because I have really lousy time-management skills. And the whole time in the back of my head there’d be a voice saying, “You can either hurry up and leave and wait for the bus or you can wait and have to hurry,” although most of the time it didn’t matter because Nashville buses are always at least fifteen minutes behind schedule. That is, even if I stayed at work an extra five or ten minutes I’d still get to the bus stop in time to stand around and watch traffic go by.
Most days my lousy time management skills aren’t a problem because working from home has cut down my commute to a few feet but Mondays are my day to be in the office. By now I should have gotten used to that, and I did get up early this morning. Maybe I got up too early. I finished taking the dogs out and feeding them, then took a shower and got dressed, the whole time thinking I was running late.
In retrospect it was that thinking that was my undoing. With everything done I went into the kitchen to get my keys, ready to go, but when I checked the time I was about fifteen minutes ahead of my usual schedule. Fifteen minutes to relax, let the sun come up, maybe even have a bite of breakfast. By the time I’d done all that I was, well, a couple of minutes behind. But I thought I could make that up on the way. Then I was out the door and in the driveway before I realized I’d forgotten something so I had to go back.
Once I got on the road at least I managed to make good time, and it looked like my habitual procrastination wasn’t going to be a problem. At one point it even looked like I’d get to work early.
Then I got stuck behind a bus.
I was fifteen minutes late.
Oh, the irony!! But it was still hilarious to read about!
I really get easily distracted, especially when I think I have even a little free time. It’s something I need to focus on but, you know, I get easily distracted.
Ha! And DST is just around the corner. So, year’s really going to screw with your timing!Mona
Oh, I’d forgotten about the time change. Argh, everything is conspiring to throw me off. It’s bad enough that I went into work on Thursday instead of my usual Monday. That really messed with my schedule.
I don’t think you have lousy time management skills, Chris, and I love how you manage your time here.
Fortunately most of the time my time management skills are good enough to get by, but in the mornings it’s not always easy, and the time change hasn’t helped either.