My ears and whiskers*

"The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time."
Richard Cech


So, I have to assume that if the above is true, I am doing many MANY things all at once because I am doing many things but few to completion, or few that don't need to be re-completed (isn't that the same thing?) like, my resume. Any idea how many versions are required to get one person one job? or even one half or one-quarter a job? (That is, if you cast a net to include part-time work.)


Thankfully (and I thank all of you reading) very few, like only one, or one-half or one-quarter person has asked me what I'm doing with my free time. We out of work persons, and I'll speak for all of us, even though I'm so new at it, *really* appreciate it when that (the free time question) is *not* asked, however logical it is.


Before I was out of a job I remember telling John that I would 'quilt every day' should I have the misfortune to get laid off. And of course with the extra work everyone I know is either taking on, or feeling like they have to take on to invest in whatever security, real or perceived is available, getting laid off can have a lottery ticket feeling to it.


Somehow, I have spent less time quilting since I got the news, a bit more time with childcare (and they are hardly children might I add) oriented tasks if you consider flex accounts drying up by the end of last month and the need to get everyone their checkups, glasses, and oral surgeries-- yet, much more time cleaning up old email, learning my new computer, stopping the presses of making a master plan for income generation in several different arenas for the sake of following up on one small, big, or medium lead as the case may be. That generates a flurry of activity, often requiring asking favors from others (thank you Facebook friends!) only to get no response at all from the lead, or a thanks but no thanks note because the market is simply flooded. So that feels like a back to square one situation even if in fact the lead follow up involved more work on a resume or a furthering of a course charted out earlier. What remains after one of these goose chases is massive disorientation as to what path I was headed down 'before' the lead was forwarded, and a stack of people who I doubt will continue to think of me as their friends if I don't make time for them in some form.


So, what am I going to do about it? My question to myself, if not anyone else's. I'm going to face down this conundrum the way I face down just about everything else-- why I'm going to write about it. Not here (just in case you are not interested in how much time I spend down to the minute going to yoga and the grocery store on the way back)-- but I will see what I can unearth as to the time suck culprit. Work has deadlines, meetings involving reports and all manner of things to either sum up what we've done, or notice what we haven't done. Some of that exists now in the form of my job search work team and certain productivity tools we are asked to generate.


More soon.


"What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know." St. Augustin

*Title is by Lewis Carroll from Alice in Wonderland, "Oh my ears and whiskers how late it's getting."

Bonus round: guest bloggers wanted-- I will be away the week of October 18 and would love to feature a guest or 2 for the October 18 and 21 blog entries. Yyou can write about any subject you choose!