Last Tuesday, Stephen Dubner and James Altucher’s Question of the Day was “What excuse do you want to stop making?”
You can listen to the whole episode here. It’s Episode 127.
Immediately, I answered:
I don’t/didn’t have time.
I say this a lot, both at home and at work. It’s why I haven’t done my dishes, haven’t cleaned the bathtub, haven’t returned those overdue library books. It’s why I submitted that grant on the deadline rather than early. It’s why I have a pile of paperwork that keeps growing.
To be fair on the work front, for the past several months, I’ve been wearing some sizable hats beyond my actual, contracted job. Now that those hats have been handed off to other people or the projects have been concluded, I should be able to stave off leaning on the time excuse.
Then, this evening, I read this post by Michael Troiano on Medium. Troiano writes, “‘Not having time to write’ is code for not thinking it’s important enough to do so.”
If I were better at prioritizing, I’d have a better handle on what needs done and when. In most cases, I do have time. It’s more a matter of organizing that time in a way that allows me to do those tasks that need doing and to eliminate those habits and activities that pull focus.
A cursory glance through this blog or my last one here will tell any reader that I haven’t been prioritizing writing, at least not publicly. I’m not going to make any promises here that betray grandiose expectations of a sudden turnaround in productivity. As soon as I write that, I won’t publish anything for another six months.
But it won’t be because I didn’t have the time.
It will be because I chose to prioritize otherwise.
Special thanks to Messrs. Dubner, Altucher, and Troiano for their inspiration to face my excuse and move forward, whatever that means.
micahwrites 