Part of the morning ritual of a lot of folks during the winter is warming up the car. It may be covered with ice, or just plain cold, and it needs some time to get ready to go. Often this takes patience, especially when you’re in a hurry and running late. But it’s important and can improve the performance and life of your car. So here’s the thing – when it comes to your work, are you really procrastinating or just getting warmed up? I’m a reformed procrastinator, and have gone to great lengths not to slip-slide back into the hole of putting things off. But one thing I’ve learned is that there is a time to just be idle and let the engine get warmed up. Lots of productivity gurus recommend jumping right into work – maybe writing first thing for example – before doing anything else. I’ve tried it, and it doesn’t work for me. You see, I need time to get warmed up in the morning. I’m honestly not procrastinating in the traditional sense, but need some time to ramp up into my day. How do I know I’m not just slacking? Because when I jump right in, most of what I produce is crap. But if I give myself time to get warmed up – have some coffee, check some feeds, read some mail – when I do get to work, I’m way more productive. I’m also much more focused. Now, of course, this goes against the thinking of “never checking email first” or jumping right into your next actions. So I had to come to grips with the fact that I just work differently. You have to be honest with yourself, because I could easily be procrastinating and making excuses. The key is the work is getting done – usually ahead of schedule. So maybe you’re not slacking, but just taking time to get warmed up. Maybe you’re one of those that need to melt off the ice and clear the fog that accumulated over the night. Only you know for sure.
