Scraps Of Mind

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My earlier post on Procrastination as a productivity tool seems to have hit a common nerve. My friend Thatch sent me this which I will print out and frame … ummm one day. Source unknown.

You may wish to delay reading this until you have more free time.

1. I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.

2. I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.

3. I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.

4. I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

5. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.

6. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.

7. If at first I don’t succeed, there is always next year.

8. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.

9. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.

10. I will never put off ’til tomorrow, what I can forget about forever

Other related posts:

Procrastination

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I would have written about this sooner, but I kept on putting it off.

Procrastination is one of my besetting sins. Over the years I have invented a squillion ways to avoid starting something I really don’t want to do…but should. I like to think that I’ve now developed it into an art form.

I find I can use procrastination as a tool to get so much done. Yes it’s true, procrastination can be a productivity tool!

Example:
It’s Saturday and I have to write a document for work on Monday. I’m not really in the right mood for it (not sure what the right mood for writing a work document looks like) and I know it’s going to be a grind. So I won’t start on it straight away. I need some time to prepare myself, get myself in the zone. I know I’m procrastinating and I feel guilty, so I do a bunch of housework to ease the guilt. Usually I’ll pick a grotty job or one I’ve been putting off (that’s right… procrastinating). And before the afternoon is gone I’ll have managed to complete at least one daggy chore that would otherwise never have been done. Of course it’ll be too late to start on the work document because I’ll need to be fresh to work on that and now it’s too late in the afternoon. So I’ll wait until Sunday and then I’ll really get stuck into it…

You get the idea. So I used to think procrastination was a fault, but now I’ve decided to look at it as a productivity tool.

Now I’m going to take a look at my other faults and see if I can’t turn them into desirable traits by looking at them from another angle.

Well, maybe I’ll do that tomorrow, when I’m in the right mood…

Other related posts:

The Procrastinators’ Creed

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Had my first taste of Opera at the weekend. The Melbourne Opera Co did a regional performance at the Plenty Ranges Theatre and my sister Elaine passed the flyer on to me.

I enjoy the ballet and am a subscriber to the Australian Ballet Co programme, and I have often wondered how I would feel about Opera. I’ve never been interested in listening to recordings of opera (see previous post) and, to be honest, I’m not a big fan of the soprano voice. But this presented a great opportunity to ‘give it a go’ in a terrific little theatre where there’s no such thing as a bad seat.

So Allan and I (both opera virgins) went along on Saturday to see Don Giovanni by Mozart performed by the Melbourne Opera Company.

This is basically the story of a total sleazebag who has the ambition to sleep with every female on the planet (ie Europe) and record his conquests in a book. And he’s a fair way to achieving his goal when the story starts. It’s a bit of a black comedy which ends with Don Giovanni arrogantly taking on Death and coming off second best. There were little or no props and scenery and the ‘chorus’ was a little ragged, but overall performance was very strong.

And it was a great performance which both of us really enjoyed! The whole singing of the lines thing didn’t seem weird and the cast was strong and really brought out the characters. And even the sopranos worked for me.

However the performance was in English, rather than in Italian as I was expecting. So I don’t know how much my enjoyment was based on my ability to understand the language. So I’m not sure if I’m a true opera convert yet.
I’m booked to see Puccini’s Turandot at the State Theatre in December. That will be a full over-the-top production sung in Italian which will be the real test. Bring it on!

So I’m no longer an Opera Virgin…but not yet an Opera Lover.

Other related posts:

Madam Butterfly
Turandot…or, ‘Mastermind Chinese Style’
The Ballet - Don Quixote

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