There's a bit of a paradox — or maybe it's merely a conundrum — in the world, insofar as we are "expected" to be as productive as we possibly can be, but we're working within a system whose rigidity doesn't actually make for maximizing productivity.
This morning, I got up and actually felt relatively clear-headed, and like I would be able to get a lot of work done today. Great! Woo-hoo!
But much of that came crashing down when I realized that I had a number of "busy-work items" that would interrupt that stream of productivity.
How so?
Stuff with 5:00 Eastern time deadlines; having to go to town (we live in a small place) to run errands that accomodate places that close at 4:00pm and 5:00pm. Thus, any sense of continuity was basically broken to bits.
One of my particular "quirks" is that I really hit my stride in working on something when I am about two to two-and-a-half hours into continuous concentration on something, without interruptions.
Of course, one of the "benefits" of modern life — with all its bells, whistles and sidetracks — is that it has become virtually impossible to set aside contiguous blocks of time to get something done.
I look at the work environment — whether it be corporate or my own experience as a self-employed person — and working seems to have degraded into some strange funhouse show consisting of a bunch of distractions punctuated by limited periods of concentrated work.
I have a really hard time believing that it was always so... and — in fact — I am old enough to remember "working" as being something that had far more continuity than it does today.
Upon reflection, I suppose I might be OK if my entailed something that didn't involve the external world in any way... but what kind of work (for pay!) would that even be?
To be honest, whatever that limited type of job might have been, it's like what was first in line with it came to being taken over by AI and automation.
The last reasonably well paid thing I have done for work — writing and editing — is increasingly being taken over by AI driven services.
While we're not there YET, the disturbing trend — and I can't really say that I blame anyone for getting onboard that trend — is that people (clients) prefer paying $200 to an AI service for editing a manuscipt "pretty well" rather than paying an actual professional for an actual professionally edited manuscript at a cost of $1500-$2000.
What does that all have to do with the title of this post?
Well, my editing gig was one of the few things I could do on my daily schedule, rather than on an external schedule.
And yes, of course there are workarounds.
Do part of what needs to be done tomorrow, yesterday.
Which is fine, if you happen to live in a world where nothing happens, and everything lies static for 24-48 hours.
Nice work, if you can get it!
In a very small and "localized" sense, I suppose the upswing is that I ended up with a brief period of "off-time" that allowed me to put together a blog post, while waiting to leave for my in-town errands that otherwise broke apart my productive day!
I try to find gratitude in the small things that turn out well!
Thanks for visiting, and may you have a productive day!
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Created at 2025.09.18 12:36 PST
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