Don't Put Off Until Tomorrow....

You are sat at work. You are thinking about dinner tonight. You are thinking about your next holiday. You are thinking about the big game on Saturday. You are thinking about anything but what you are supposed to be doing which in most circles is called work. It may be work, it may be making a decision. I get the feeling that humans are amazing procrastinators and dawdlers when we want to be. I wonder if animals are – does the cat give serious thought to whether he is going to climb the curtains today, or does the bird analyse the scene ahead and deliberate which unsuspecting human he is going to swoop over and poop on? I am not so sure.

We either delay the inevitable, or often take the long route rather than just ploughing ahead and just doing something or making a decision. I remember writing about this subject when I first started my blog and it randomly came back into my head recently. Unquestionably, most folks are at work and spending time surfing facebook and spying on what Little Jimmy has been up to today. They actually have 27 emails sat in the inbox waiting to be dealt with, but learning about what Little Jimmy had for dinner seems far more appealing than replying to them. I suspect many folks are reading this rather than doing something they should be doing – you’ve made the right decision – those emails can wait. Promise!

I have gone down the route recently of setting up a company and working independently. The pitfalls of good old procrastination are more evident than ever when you work for yourself. There is nobody keeping track of what I am doing, there is nobody to report to, there is nobody dangling a bonus at the end of the year if I perform well, and there is nobody to sack my butt when they want to. There are positives and negatives. I can sleep in if I want to. If it is cold outside, I don’t have to go outside. If I am sulking one day, I don’t have to talk to anybody. All of which are positives and negatives – if you work in an office, you will think they are massive positives, but I can assure you it is not as glamorous as one may think. The overriding factor is that for all the time I spend on Facebook, wasting time on decisions I have already really made in my head but have not followed through on, I am not earning money. Effectively, if I don’t get busy, I am not going to eat.

Well that sounded dramatic and is obviously not the case, but the reality is that nobody is going to motivate me other than myself and I have to produce. Some folks would struggle with it. It is certainly not easy, I have to admit, but thankfully I am generally quite motivated to do well and succeed so I have never found it a major problem. Of course I have days where I waste too much time and productivity levels are lower than usual, but more often than not, I know I have to produce and I do. I do not have to worry about what anybody else is doing, Little Jimmy is whingeing about Big Bertha, Judy leaves early every day and I am left having to do her work. I do not have to deal with any of that. I just have to produce.

As I have said, there are good elements and not so good elements to it and so much depends on your personality. I think I was back in high school when one teacher threw out a saying which always stuck with me – ‘Don’t put off until tomorrow, what can be done today.’ It is so true and something that I have always found to be worth remembering. Easier said that done I know, but if you are reading this, and you have a few items on your things to do list that you have been putting off, get your teeth into one of them, and ban yourself from facebook until you do. Don’t be so hasty and stop reading my blog, but give it a try!

The Devil Is In The Detail

I think we all have an optimum way of working. Some folks like to work in complete silence. Some folks like to work on their own. Some folks like to work in an open plan office space. Some folks like to work in the mornings. Some folks like to whistle while they work. That annoys me. Some folks don’t like to work.

Personally, I enjoy working. I made it my mission when I was a fresh faced but spotty boy from Leeds at school to work in something I loved and enjoyed. I saw my parents work so hard, such long hours, doing work that they didn’t particularly enjoy to give me and my sister a good start in life. I don’t like the fact that they had to, but I am eternally grateful. So I made it my mission to do something I enjoy and that something was sport. Football would be the ideal thing, but sport would keep me motivated to work and to work hard for the long forty-plus year slog we all have to make.

When I was young, I pretty much found my optimum way of working. If it was something I was not interested in, I just did enough to reach the next level. My mum showed me my school reports a month or so ago and it was hilarious to read the comments which are as appropriate now as they were twenty years ago. If it was something I was interested in or could tailor to football such as a random poem or story in English, I excelled.

The other thing I noticed when I was young was that I had a tendency to work best under pressure. That usually meant doing work at the very last minute. In some ways I am incredibly organised and meticulous. In other ways, I only produce my best when the pressure is on. During my working life, the same has always applied. I have always sort the high tempo intensity that brings the best out of me and it is what I enjoy.

In terms of working environment, I am not one to particularly revel in working in silence or on my own. Give me an airport, a room full of people, loud noise and music, all kinds of disturbances, and I am able to find my own silence and solitude in my head to work. I am reasonably fortunate to be able to do that. Given the travel and the hectic lifestyle I have often led, it has been the only way to progress.

I was always a nighthawk and still am. I generally produce my best late at night. Maybe it is another case leaving things until the last minute, I am not sure, but it is something I have always enjoyed. Whether I had to write an essay through the night, research and analyse football matches, or general stuff, the night has always been my friend. I sit here right now at 4.30am writing this blog and I am enjoying every moment. If you are reading this any time before 6am, then I apologise and hope you can go back to sleep.

My other place of great thought and contemplation is the loo. I kid you not. Instead of a magazine, try take a problem or issue to the loo next time, and give it some rational thought. It is amazing what you can come up with sometimes on the throne.

Not everything works for all people. HJ is an early bird and gets more done in the first few hours of the day than I get done before 3pm. My way is certainly not the best way, that I am sure. But it works for me. The devil is in the detail and working out our optimum way to work or live is pretty important for me.

Bobby Balboa

So, if you haven’t already heard me sulk about how hungry I am, or rambling on in general, I am committed to a bet to lose weight. My challenge is this. I have to lose 10% of my weight. Given that I weighed in two weeks ago (March 25th) at just a fraction over 99kg, I have to lose 9.9kg before the end of May. That basically means I have to get down to 89kg.

My response has been two fold, and it ain’t rocket science. Firstly, I have committed myself to more exercise. From the occasional one game of football per week, I’ve started more regular exercise, with three runs already this week and some weight training. Secondly, I’m improving my diet. I figured that if I cut out alcohol for two months, I would cut the 10kg without any other actions. That was perhaps a slight exaggeration. I have cut it out though, and have just had a couple of beers in the last two weeks. Food-wise, I’m trying to cut back on my portions and eat healthier. This means I’m hungry most of the time, and that in turn, means I’m sulking a lot and ready to fight anybody or nibble on their arm. Well, not quite, but it is not easy trying to cut back a bit, but it’s necessary and I’ll get used to it. It’s nothing drastic, and I’m hardly starving, but it’s a step in the right direction.

I promised in a previous blog post that I would update the blog with my weight every two weeks. In the first two weeks, I have lost just under 2kg and I am a fraction over 97kg now. Small leap but a leap, and it is a good motivator to see some reward for the pain! The pleasing thing is that I know I can improve the diet further, and improve on my workouts also. This has to be the first time that I have actually committed to, and taken seriously, getting in shape.

I am fairly sure the hard work is still ahead and it is no doubt easiest to shed the first few pounds, than the last few. I have visions of running on a treadmill with a black dustbin bag over me trying to dry out just before stepping on the scales on the last day of May in a little thong. Ok, maybe that vision has just turned away most of my readers (all three of you), but you get the drift. I am up for the challenge and I am not going to fail this one.