Leaving Work Late

It takes me an incredible amount of energy to start working.  Once I get that energy, however, it is takes an even more incredible amount of energy to STOP WORKING. 


You may have experienced this before.  

Your morning starts off pretty pathetically.  You may have arrived to work late, and much to your displeasure, important persons notice.  The coffee machine at work may be broken.  You might just be a little distracted and pass the time chatting on the internet.  You might hate your job and spend hours thinking about how you’ll survive the next minute.  

 

You tell yourself not to worry because it’s only the morning.  You have more than half of the workday to shape up and be productive.

But by the time you wake up from your procrastination-reverie, it’s already late afternoon. You realize only now that you have some sort of important deadline to meet.

It is at this point that the panic sets in, a panic that induces a very serious and powerful combination of motivation and productivity.

And so you set out to work with the determination of Mahatma Gandhi. 

Time goes by, and by some miracle, you have somehow garnered the strength and discipline to ignore the gnawing emptiness in your stomach. 

At this point, you have become the Mahatma.  

Yes.  You are hunger striking. Against laziness and procrastination.

You work some more.  Your cell phone rings from some concerned friend or family member, but you ignore it.  You must persevere! There is work to be done and you are brimming with energy to doggedly complete your task.  

And then it sinks in.  The boundless energy and productivity that was coursing through your veins disappears without a trace.  The most compound form of lethargy settles into your body. You feel weak. You feel tired. You feel incredibly old and drained of vitality. Your stomach feels like it will implode or spontaneously combust.You wonder how you’ll carry yourself out of the office, let alone travel back to your home.  And you don’t even want to think about what obstacles you’ll have to endure to procure your much-needed dinner.

Against all odds, you somehow manage to make it.  You have somehow gotten home, eaten, and you are now in bed.  As you lie in bed, you vow to never work so late again.  That is, until the next morning, when you forget about this and do it all over again.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent too many evenings like this. 
I’m a very visual person.  And contrary to what I’ve said in this post, I am a very proactive person.  That said, I’ve come up with an action plan to stop myself from entering this vicious circle of laziness-induced productivity that leaves me working late into the evening. 

And here it is.  The next time you find yourself in a manic productivity state and it’s late, it may be beneficial to engrave this into your memory.  I hope it helps.

The End!