They're no further along than they were before, perhaps because we've lost the usual markers that make us more efficient, says the time management expert who wrote the article. Or perhaps — and this explanation is infuriatingly accurate — we just don't have the will.
The author, Laura Vanderkam, quotes the caption of a recent New Yorker cartoon: "Day 6. Couldn't decide between starting to write my novel or my screenplay. So instead I ate three boxes of mac and cheese and then lay on the office floor panicking."
Not exactly my life — but the windfall of time I thought would appear without commute, appointments or social engagements has not exactly materialized. I've tried to figure out where the time has gone. I've slept a little more and cooked a little more and worked a little more. Could that be where the days and weeks have gone?
Maybe living through a pandemic is not when you should expect to get caught up on all your creative pursuits — as well as staying in touch with friends and family and strategizing grocery store runs like battle campaigns. Maybe I should be content with whatever words I can eke out of the day, and with this as with so much else ... simply soldier on.
(This is an old photo of stickies pulled off page proofs I read with my old job. But they remind me of — sigh! — completed tasks.)