November 9, 2007
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Do You Dawdle?
Do you dawdle? (I think that is a real word. Anyway, I’m using it to mean take longer than you need to on a task.) I’ve decided that I am not a person who dawdles. In fact, it takes too much energy to dawdle and look busy at the same time and it is just plain boring!
Molly and I are still working on the microfilm task at work. But at one point, we had some data we had to verify in the computer. We were thrilled because it was a reason to stop scanning the microfilm for bad images. (We’ve decided that the biggest problem with this task is the minuscule amount of brain it requires. There is plenty of time to be bored!) Anyway, we split the stack that was ready to be verified and each agreed that it was probably in our best interest to go slow.
Neither of us managed it. We completed the task in an hour and a half and finished our individual stacks within 5 minutes of each other.
But it feels like other people in the office dawdle all the time. Part of it is that I think they are way too attached to their individual task. Molly and I have been receiving a lot of cross-training (when we aren’t viewing microfilm
). There is one person in particular that I am tempted to swoop in and take some things off her hands. But I don’t think it would go well . . . .The thing is, when we were way behind she was doing 1.5-2 units a day. Today she got 3/4 of the way through one. She was dawdling. Since the microfilm machine is right next to her, I was very aware of it. That and if she hadn’t been dawdling there would have been other things for Molly and I to do!
Dawdling. In my mind, it means you are not working to your full capacity.
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop and smell the roses. We all need to do that! It’s just my good old protestant work ethic. Work hard. Work well.
And when you do stop to smell the roses, you can stop and enjoy them guilt free. That makes them even sweeter. Happily, I get to do a little relaxing tomorrow!
Comments (4)
Have a Great Weekend!
I agree…my husband is one of the biggest dawdlers in the WORLD. It not only drives me crazy, it lessens my drive. However, I have recently learned that it is just the way he was raised. Don’t get me wrong, I am far from a hard worker…much closer to lazy…but, when given a task, I do my best. You are right, it’s Biblical.
There are also those that have attention spans of puppies…those that are more interested in office gossip than getting their job done and the other ‘types’ of people that go with office stuff.
I miss working because I don’t have the discipline to keep my nose to the grindstone at home…24/7 is a bit much.
I have a family full of dawdlers.. and I think I could learn a lot from them.
They always seem to have fun, while I’m getting frustrated.. LOL
I don’t dawdle…I multi-task…sometimes way too much. There are times I will continue my work from home when I should be just relaxing!