Tag: time management

I Feel Bad About This

I feel like I dropped a ball at work. I did not, but I feel like I did.

One of the guys in my group was struggling with an issue on Friday. He was sending out chat messages to the rest of us during the morning and I was chipping in where I could. His problem involved a functionality that 10 years ago I was the authority on. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to look into it myself, but I am still often the guy who can straighten things out even though I don’t personally support customers anymore and therefore never have this sort of issue assigned to me directly.

He asked if anyone was available to jump on a video chat and look things over with him. Right about the same time my boss’ boss pulled a whole bunch of people, including me, into a different discussion and I had to shift my focus to that. By the start of the work day today (Monday) my issue was pretty much worked out but my coworker was still struggling. He was on another video call with a few people from other groups and they were trying to figure out what was going wrong. I joined the call and within a few minutes knew what the problem was and how to fix it.

Damn it.

By 10:00am today everything was fine and dandy and right as rain. That’s good. What I am upset with myself about is that if I could have just freed up a few minutes on Friday I could have saved my coworker a lot of stress and had it all wrapped up three days earlier. The customer would have been happy, my coworker would have been happy, and I would have felt like a (very minor) hero. Instead, I feel like let everyone down. Again, I did not, and the thing I was looking at on Friday is really important and has all sorts of upper management eyes on it, but I still wish I could have been there for my coworker sooner than I was. That’s all.

Productivity

I’m feeling a little productive today. It’s a weird feeling. It’s also partially thanks to me cheating a little.

I mentioned yesterday that I had a project that is due today that I hadn’t had time to work on. I got it done. Boom. Well… I have to review it with some other people before it’s officially declared complete, but I’m in a good spot. The cheat? I started work about two hours early today so that I could get it done. Not a cheat, so much, as just being the kind of employee who manipulates time and space to get up to speed. Nothing much.

I am so freakin’ busy today though. Meetings on top of meetings, and we have dinner plans tonight, and I haven’t taken a shower yet because I spent my allotted daily shower time working. Ugh. I’ll get it all done. Just you watch me.

Okay, red head. Time for a meeting, then lunch, then a meeting, then a meeting. As Thursdays go… this sure is one.

Stop Procrastinating

Daily writing prompt
What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?
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There is irony here. Big time. I just got to work. Thanks to insane traffic I was a couple of minutes late. I’m caught up now though. I have a lot of stuff I want to plow through this morning, but here I am writing a blog post. Foreshadowing? Oh yeah. Big time.

One small improvement. Hmmm. Just one? I can think of a few. How about doing something to tweak the ol’ work ethic? How about we try to cut down on the procrastination. Work now, flake later, rather than the normal vice versa. I feel like that would go a long way toward making me feel like a better human, in the purely professional sense. I haven’t been missing any deadlines lately or anything that demands changes, but I also feel like there have been times when the nose should have been squarely on the grindstone and it hasn’t. Case in point… I am writing this now while I should be doing some paperwork. Ugh.

I should be more attentive to my wife’s needs. I should be quicker to help out with anything my kids need. I should be more attentive to my father and really just be there for him more than I am. That’s a big source of guilt for me. Anything related to my father is a source of guilt. Ugh, again. I’m trying. I am failing often, but I am trying. I should initiate talk with the kids more than I do too. Just send them each a text saying little things like you rule and I hope you’re kicking ass today. You know, little things.

Okay, stop procrastinating. Get back to work, Mr. Red Head. Get some stuff done.

I Am So Tired

18 minutes left in the work week. I am completely exhausted. I thought I got a decent night’s sleep last night, but right now I am completely out of gas. I have nothing left.

17 minutes until the weekend. I’m looking forward to going to bed early tonight and sleeping late tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be nice? Sounds like time well spent to me! I might be a smidge bias though, I’m not sure.

Not that it matters, but I am just going to mention that I spent my lunch break wrapping xmas presents today. I didn’t get through everything I needed to, but I am feeling pretty good about what I did get to. Time well spent, indeed.

15 minutes to go until quittin’ time. I am so ready.

Bring me that weekend!

Meetings

Today has been a day. Meetings and more meetings. I had seven on my schedule but I punted one of them off until tomorrow so I ended up with six. I just got out of the last one. I was able to sneak in about half an hour for food and that was only enough time to eat half of what I brought with me. I got through all of the protein but none of the fruit. Last night’s dinner was similar. I got through all of the protein but none of the vegetables. Today the issue was time. Last night the issue was nausea, but the end result is the same. Uneaten food. I might try to snack on a few grapes while driving home, but only if I’m feeling okay on the hydration front. I have been feeling super dried out pretty much all day today. I have 45 minutes to go before quitting time and my water bottle is full. Let’s see how I feel.

Also, it just started pouring out here. Fingers crossed it stops before I have to walk out to my car. A working boy can hope, right?