Avoiding Work, Relaxing, And A Summer Storm

Soaked streets, a down tree, and a light that is actually still working.

Well, this is the final short week of a month long string and, as is common place when I don’t have a specific event to attend or place to go, I had no idea what to do with myself. I got out of bed only slightly later than I normally would on a Thursday morning and while the weather started off sunny and humid the forecast showed some troublesome signs in the afternoon. If I stayed in the apartment I would do nothing but work and knowing that the day was going to be cut a little short with the weather moving up the coast, I had no other choice than to get in the car and drive.

Even with all the travel that I have already done this year, it is a different experience being behind the wheel without having to be somewhere at a specific time or having an event or place that you have to go. It is the ever-present cliché of the freedom of the road that allows me to relax, get lost, explore, and maybe find a few places that I have never been, see a few things that I had never seen, and discover some new destinations for a future weekend trip. And throughout the wandering and weaving between towns and the coasting down the highway, I didn’t check my mail at all… exactly the way I wanted to spend the morning.

By the time I stopped the car to get out and stretch much of the morning had already passed and lunch time was knocking at my empty stomach. With the stiffness having evaporated from my joints, it was time to head back and figure out where I was going to meet my wife for a mid-day meal. We finally settled on meeting in King of Prussia with a couple of hours afterward to spend together before we, once again, went our separate ways… my wife had to get to her grad class and I had to continue my attempt to relaxing during this rare day off.

By this time I had glanced at my work email but, with only a few minor things to address, it was not a hindrance to my time away from the office. While the limited time at the range could have gone better (I need more consistent practice), it was nice to just stand around and chat about anything and everything that didn’t involve work. With night riding across the sky on the back of dark clouds, I pointed the car toward home, drove through the squalls of a sudden summer storm, and picked up dinner for my wife and me to enjoy together after a full day and probably one of my more successful non-working days.

Back To The Monday Routine

After the craziness last week it was nice to the usual Monday routine. Come to think of it, we haven’t had a ‘normal’ Monday for some time now as we have been jumping from one project to another which pushed back our usual slate of Monday internal meetings to later in the week. While things are still as busy as ever, the lineup of meetings seems to have returned to their usual timing.

However, heading into this week I feel as though I am finally returning to normal and the deteriorated PR skills from my extended time away from the industry are beginning to regenerate. They have been there from the time I started this current job in one form or another but now there is marked growth with a return to my former productivity and efficiency within reach. It is hard to explain but I think the best analogy, and a clichéd one at that, is that if you let a car sit for a year it is going to take some time before you getting working efficiently again like it’s supposed to. Sure it will probably run as soon as you turn it on but there is going to be a lot of things wrong with it that you are going to have to address one by one. Eventually everything is fixed and things begin running smoothly again, like they should be.

Awkward analogy, part of one. Awkward analogy, part of one. Your blog post is ready.

After the success of last week now in the past, it is time to work on the other projects that have been put off or passed off over the last couple of weeks. With that said, there are still many opportunities that have come about from the work done and the meetings held last week with will be in addition to what is usually in the growing pile on the desk. But now there is a schedule that I can rely on until it is drastically changed over and over again. Hey, that is the business and industry in which I strive and what keeps things interesting during the week.

So, the routine survived today which is not bad. Sometimes you have to have a predictable day that allows you to cope with the insanity of the ‘normal’ schedule. I don’t know how long this planned out week will last but until the schedule falls apart I am going to enjoy the predictability for as long as it can hold out (or until we can’t take it anymore). Hey, we are a unique group of people, those in the PR industry, and sometimes we are at our best when the schedule goes to pot so when things are calm for too long we have to switch it up to maximize our productivity. I never said we were a normal bunch.

Playing Catch Up

The past couple of weeks have provided me with a seemingly endless stream of work. The kind of heavy flow that leave you searching for the cut off valve. While nothing that needs to be done is of any significant size, the volume of the work is what keeps growing.

The greatest hindrance to the whole thing really isn’t the things that I know that need to be done it is the collection of all the things that I keep forgetting about. The tasks and projects that have been put aside temporarily in order to take care of the faux urgent. Today was a perfect example of this as I was knocking things out at a pretty steady pace with what looked like an end point in site. Then my mind began churning and bringing to the forefront items that had been blocked out for days.

This really isn’t anything new. Sometimes it is what needs to be done in order to focus on more pressing matters. Sometimes it is because my mind is wandering about while I am typing. On the rare occasion, it is because I just zone out and things evaporate. Of course, there are the occasion where all of these fun things come into play as they play tetherball with my gray matter allowing me to catch a quick glimpse of a thought before sending it back to the forgotten files in the corner.

Is this a problem? No, not really. It doesn’t get in the way of getting things done on time. Maybe the occasional lapse of time between communications but nothing that would entail missing a deadline. In fact, it is my minds way of making sure that things get done. Even the best juggler has limits as to how many things they can keep afloat. Yes, it’s a cliché and I used it. If I tried to keep everything going on within easy mental reach it would be impossible to get things done. Even simple things would be a chore and choked with the thoughts of other unrelated projects. It would be like Bill Clinton at a sorority house slumber party… at some point you just freeze up and not be able to function even though you know what to do.

Basically, in order for some people to remain productive, you have to become stupid. I am talking about a liberal dose of stupidity that ensures you mind has a singular, however ridiculous, purpose. You have to do this while maintaining a damn good mental hard drive to pull things back up when needed. One project at a time because even the best computer can crash if you let it overheat (usually if you open up too many programs at the same time).

If needed, don’t be afraid to shut it down and smack the crap out of it… old school IT support is sometimes the best solution. With that said, time to revisit the land of the simple minded where liberal doses of stupidity are the norm and everything has a blue tint to it. Without all that pesky thinking I should be able to catch up sooner than I thought possible.