I was a clock watcher in school. I watched the clock and waited for it to tell me I could go to recess or lunch or to another class I hated less. When it got close to the end of the school day, I watched the seconds tick by until the bell rang out and I was set free.
I was bored and frustrated that I had to be somewhere I didn’t want to be, doing things I didn’t want to do.
Maybe you can relate.
Today, I make my own schedule and do the work I want to do. But I am still haunted by that clock.
I’m working on a big project right now. Even though I enjoy the work, as I see the end of the day approaching, as my stomach tells me it’s getting close to dinner time, I mentally start winding down and find myself going into evening mode.
I’m not making as much progress on the project as I want to. I know I could do much more.
It’s the clock, damn it. I worshiped it in school and now it owns my soul. It knows that I don’t have a deadline for this project and it plays with my mind. Sometimes I can hear it laughing at me.
I listen to music, to drown out distractions and keep me from looking at the clock. But my inner clock seems to have synchronized with the external clock-god and as the end of the day approaches, I know it and I start losing steam.
The clock-god wants to control me, but I refuse to bow down to it’s evil ways. Thankfully, I’ve found a way to banish the clock-god from my life.
I found a new clock.
It’s just as tough and demanding on me, but I obey this new clock because it is benevolent and wants me to succeed.
The new clock-god has a name. It’s called a countdown timer.
I decide in advance how much work I want to do each day on the project. Right now, that’s four hours. Before, I probably worked no more than a couple of hours a day on it, and not every day, either.
I know that if I put in four hours a day, I will reach my goal.
I found a site with a simple countdown timer on it. When I start work, I set the timer for four hours and click the start button.
Now, it doesn’t matter if I get distracted. It doesn’t matter what my inner clock tells me. I’ve got four hours to do and I’m not going to call it a day until I’ve put in my time.
When I take a break, I pause the timer. When I get back to work, I start it again. I enjoy watching the timer count down and seeing how much time is left before I’ve hit my daily goal.
Sometimes, if it’s time for dinner and I haven’t put in the full four hours, I go back to work after dinner. Before the countdown timer, I usually didn’t do that. I’d tell myself I was tired and that I would pick things up tomorrow.
Not anymore. The day isn’t over until I’ve put in my time.
