Years ago, I was in business for myself and I worked from home. People would ask me what it was like. Invariably, I would respond with this question:
When was the last time you made Jell-O at work?
And that indeed sums up the situation. The inherent problem of working at home is all the little potential distractions that are lying in wait at the house. Should I do the dishes now or wait until later? Perhaps I should put another coat of polyurethane on the outdoor table. Gee whiz, it’s been a while since I put cat hair out for the birds. Rearrange the furniture? Uh-oh, here come my cats! The list of distractions is endless. And in the age of Covid-19, I am far from alone in facing the challenges of working from home.
It takes a great deal of self-discipline to resist these distractions. And because the distractions are legion, it is inevitable sooner or later my resolve collapses and I am doing some non-essential task. For instance, I put a pot of water on to make coffee and noticed some packs of Jell-O that have been sitting in the pantry for probably years. Sometimes, the best way to deal with procrastination is just to get the tantalizing silly task out of the way and move on. At least that distraction will be gone.
So, I stand in my kitchen, working from home, pondering the cosmic conundrum of the ages: should I make lime or orange flavor Jell-O?
Copyright 2020 Christopher Donahue