Ah, time. If I had more of it, I'd probably still fritter it away. One day it looks like I have all the time in the world. The next day, it's gone. Where does it go? And if time is unlimited, why am I always running out of it?
But enough about me.
|
"Let's face it. Time sucks and it sucks more when you spend most of it glued to a glowing box." |
What about you? Time got you down? Is time your enemy or your friend? When you've come to the end of your day, are you pleased with the way you spent your time? Or are you one of those procrastinating fools who convinces themselves that they work best under time's oppressive weight? Do you manage the hours efficiently or do you stall until the last minute and toil like there's no tomorrow?
And then, there's the ever nasty aspect of the hurry-up and wait. In our business, there's a lot of that going around. Waiting for uploads, downloads, batch processes, video conversions, sponsor approvals and paychecks. There's nothing more frustrating than spending hours and hours building a gallery or site, only to sit by the monitor, waiting for the traffic trades to kick in. And can we talk about those damned TGPs and Top Lists and how excruciating it is to hope to god you finally get an approval email?
Let's face it. Time sucks and it sucks more when you spend most of it glued to a glowing box. You want to go outside, but no, you have to crop and code 100 still images. The idea of a night in front of the TV sounds great but there's blog posts to be posted and stats to be checked and marketing, marketing, marketing.
"Sorry honey. I'd love to have a deep and meaningful conversation but I have to monitor my ICQ just in case tech support decides to log on."
"Golly baby. Mommy wants to take the time to fully explain the birds and the bees but if I don't get this site finished, I'm gonna miss submitting it in time to get a good spot on Harry's Free Porn Portal."
"Dinner? Ha! You're on your own, dear."
You stare at your computer, wandering what the fuck to do while that horrid little clock at the bottom of your task bar keeps advancing. Time is passing like gas and you just sit there with a big case of the "duhs". You don't know where to start. You don't know how to end.
Untitled Page
Meanwhile the Internet is calling. YouTube marathons. Google searches into the netherworld. The succubus of Second Life or World of Warcraft. Pointless arguments on message boards. All these temptations conspire to eat your time and kill your productivity.
You know what the problem is, don't you? The problem is that your are your own boss and you suck at it. You got into adult because you wanted to be free of the cubicles and cash registers. Only now, you begin to long for that balding asshole with the funky breath who hovers over you, reminding you that you're on the clock. What happened to that guy? I bet he isn't wasting his time. No sir. He's the king of the work day while you're nothing buy a hapless fool, telling yourself: "Just one more round of Flash Poker and then I'll get back to work."
You know what to do. You know very well that you have the tools right in front of you to make a schedule and follow it. You've got calender software and reminder alarms. You can print off any to-do list you want. You own the most powerful technology human civilization has ever known and you want to use it to chat up hot girls on My Space.
Why do you do this to yourself? Don't ask me. I'm an idiot too. I'm probably more of an idiot that you will ever be. I've taken laziness past art, right in to clinical ridiculousness. I am not your problem. Reading this article is not your solution. The answer is in your head, begging to come to the front of your brain.
Time is time. Time doesn't care how you spend it. Time passes with or without you. You can fuck around or you can get busy.