The Theory of Constructive Idleness

I assume I'm not alone in sometimes getting a bad case of the "don'ts". Those days when you try to grind it out but the inertia is just too great. I don't relish those times but they happen to me - the older I get the more they happen.

I'm a great believer of the idea that some is better than none and that you need to produce something, even if it isn't as much or as fruitful as what you would like.

With this in mind I have developed my "Theory of Constructive Idleness".

First, knowing my gas tank doesn't hold as much fuel as it once did and whatever is supposed to pump sometimes doesn't, I try and compensate somewhat for it. In the morning I make a list. It's not etched in stone but it reflects the things I hope to get done that day. Since I don't know when my motor will start to sputter, I put the "must do's" first and then go on from their in descending order of their importance to me.

Sooner or latter I'm going to stall. What then? Well if you stop and think about it there are a lot of small things that you never get around to. These are things that are more grunt than challenge. As an example there are things to file which have never gotten filed. Often those are in my sacred stacks, which I protect with my life and have knowledge of each thing in them. But sooner or latter the stacks have to be addressed so you will have a place to put your coffee cup. An idea candidate for constructive idleness. I have reference service up-dates which are still in the box. File them. There may be some personal items hanging such as researching a stock or calculating the value of your investment portfolio - get with it. You might have a thought that hit you last night during your two a.m. bathroom trek of something you thought you knew but are a little fussy on - look it up. As a last resort you can always "google" - or worse yet, as I'm doing now, blog. It works for me.