So that's what's wrong with my work habits

The last post over at Female Science Professor was comforting, in its own odd way. Excerpts:

Several recent commenters asked me for more information about how I manage to be so ‘efficient’. Just to be clear about where I am on the efficiency spectrum: I do tend to get things done in a timely way (= efficient) but I am not a neat or extremely organized person (= less efficient than I could be).

...

- I don’t procrastinate.

...

- I don’t get distracted by things or wallow in negative emotions; ‘things’ includes unimportant things (e.g., obsessing over my rude and patronizing colleague) and important things (e.g., major life events that might be depressing or upsetting). That is, I don’t shut down in the face of obstacles.

No, really, it is sort of comforting. Comforting to see that someone successful, and comfortable with her success, does genuinely run her life differently than I do.

I do procrastinate, and I do wallow. I like to think that some of the "crises" that stop me are real. But there was a day recently where I caught precisely the drop in affect that followed a minor piece of e-mail that told me that something bureaucratic and very small was going wrong, and the consequent complete derailment of my work plans for the day -- which happened to be the only day in the week when I have time for non-teaching-related things. (I do have a particularly horrible schedule this semester.)

Comments

[Katie]

I'm with you. I wallow a lot. And - depending on the day - a small problem is enough to throw me completely off. Here's hoping the remainder of this semester is productive and next semester is much better.

[Jody]

Well, I do procrastinate, and I do wallow, so I myself am comforted by your post, which tells me that all might not be lost. (Although all might be lost for other reasons, I do have to consider that.)