Do It Now

I am a recovered procrastinator...Hey! Where did everybody go?  I'm not contagious...Sigh...Gentle Reader, I am afraid to admit that recovered procrastinators are even more annoying than ex-smokers, and almost as irritating as physically fit and gorgeous ex-fatties.  Having lost all patience with ourselves and our own habitual shirking and avoidance we have absolute zero patience with...Everybody.

Everything has to be done, not in a New York minute, and not yesterday, nor the day before yesterday, but last week.  Today, instead of standing in line in one of my favourite local coffee shops (the people ahead of me, just like anyone ahead of me, were painfully and agonizingly slow, expecting a detailed explanation of almost every single item on the menu board)  I left a couple of loonies on the counter and asked the barista to get me the usual coffee and there was absolutely no hurry even though I was lying through my teeth.  Yesterday was even worse.  At a different café across the street from one of my worksites I waited, and waited, and waited for this woman who was ordering food items and ridiculously fancy coffee beverage for nearly everyone of her coworkers and their next of kin.  I rubbed between my thumb and forefinger a loonie and a toonie, the barista smiled and said she'd get right to me, I of course didn't believe her, said a very sincere Canadian "Sorry" and walked out.  I opted to arrive a half hour early for my professional appointment where I sat in the staff room with my sketchbook.

It hasn't been all bad.  I actually do get things done, on time, and often much earlier than on time.  My income taxes I generally don't get around to till early April since I'm usually out of the country for all of March when my t-4 arrives in the mail.  But the first, or second day that I'm back I have everything ready, though I still like to spread out doing my tax forms over three or four days, simply to alleviate the frustration.  But it's always in the mail early in the first week of the month.  My phone and internet get paid within twenty-four hours of receiving notice (my twenty-four hour rule), generally within five minutes of opening the envelope.  I almost always wash my dishes immediately after eating, answer all my emails within twenty-four hours, usually within five minutes of opening the envelope.  I have become so proactive with everything that even I find myself annoying.

By the same token I have had to learn when to delay, to put things off: usually if someone needs to be confronted about something.  I try to give these communications a minimum of a week or however long it could take to cure me of the desire to confront.  It can sometimes take several months, and by the time I get around to making contact with the person I have had trouble with, and vice-versa, we've usually both forgiven if not forgotten and simply I ask something lame like "How are you?  I've missed you."  Doesn't always mean that the feeling is mutual.

Being perfect is not going to gain us a lot of friends.