I can’t believe it but I am actually beginning this column a whole day before it needs to be sent in to the editor. This is so unusual that it will probably mess up my whole week and of course it started me thinking about “being late.”
I am almost always late, especially at getting things done on time. If it needs to be done Wednesday, that is usually when I start working on it … late Wednesday!
I am always trying to change my bad habits, especially this one. I make lists, set clocks ahead, write reminder “sticky” notes and leave them all over the house, but in spite of everything, I don’t have much “real” success at all.
I think procrastinators are like left-handed people – they are born that way and they can never really change. They are, in fact, addicted to putting things off, and get a certain guilty satisfaction in waiting as long as possible to start a chore.
Example? Now that I do most of my work from my home office, I tend to stay in my pj’s as long as possible. Comfortable, but embarrassing sometimes. Especially when you have someone show up at the door and you don’t see them coming… Yes, that has happened to me – actually quite often.
And there’s more. True procrastinators have their very own schedule. Summer clothes, for instance, are put away “usually” no later than late December (I did manage to get most of mine packed up for storage in the garage – that weekend it snowed). Spring cleaning, (if it gets done at all) is a chore crossed off the list around the 15th of July. Leaves get raked in the spring – sometimes. Actually, we often wait for the wind to blow them into the neighbor’s yard (they used to end up in the river with a good stiff breeze).
Christmas packages and cards are often mailed shortly “after” the holiday. Sometimes they even arrive in time for the New Year! That’s because we procrastinators never finish up the shopping until the 24th… (This year I am on a roll – have four presents bought and a bunch of crafty ones to make – if I have time..)
Sometimes it gets really confusing. Once I kept putting off changing my watch when it was time to “fall back.” I think I finally completed that task around March 15, which was, of course almost time to “spring forward” again. I solved that problem – I quit wearing a watch. I used to forget to change the clock in my little car so every time I got in it, I always thought I was an hour late (or early, depending on the season). I don’t have that problem any more because the clock in the car quit working. It only keeps time when the car is running so I can still usually tell how long it takes to get somewhere.
Jack just bought me a smart watch – it does everything including check my blood pressure, pulse, oxygen and tell me how far I’ve walked lately and a few other neat things. It even tells time! Unfortunately, the band keeps coming “untucked” so I haven’t been wearing it.
It isn’t a good thing to arrive very late for events, although most of the time a “little late” isn’t too bad.
On getting things done, being chronically late isn’t always a terrible thing. You can be sure the recipients of your Christmas cards and packages will notice what you sent; it certainly won’t get lost in the holiday shuffle!
And, birthday cards and presents can be pretty neat on an otherwise “nothing” day after all of the anticipation and excitement are over with.
Being late is really great when it’s Mother Nature and she forgets to turn off the warm weather in the fall. It’s terrible in the spring though when it seems like the warm weather will never, ever arrive.
I don’t think we will have to worry about too much warm weather any more this year. Although the first snow, at least around here, has all melted away, the temperatures are down where you’d expect them to be this time of year – a taste of things to come, I guess.
At least I am “sort of” ready. I have the rest of my winter clothes out of storage again. Good thing too. I was tired of digging through those “out of season” bins to find something warm to wear…