Janice is easily distracted

So said my school report when I was about ten years old and it's still true at 52. I can always find something more interesting and absorbing to do when I ought to be doing something else. I would be a terrible self-employer because I'd always find something else to do, rather than what must be done. Having said that, though, if I have a deadline to meet I will meet it. The only time I have ever failed to meet a deadline was in 1976 when I was a student teacher and had to plan a day's lessons (out of my head) and suffered a mental block of gigantic proportions. I went into school that day, burst into tears and told the class teacher that I had nothing planned because I couldn't think of anything! Why, I don't know. It was a simple English grammar lesson for a class of 8 year olds, and I had the rest of the day's lessons planned. It never happened again - I became a master of 'door-handle' lessons* over the course of my career - and let's face it - all teachers have to be able to do that.

So today, I am distracted by the weather (it's pouring with rain) and genealogy. I wasn't going to search for dead ancestors today, but a bit of new information led from one thing to another and so it goes. I should be cleaning the house and doing laundry (is it any wonder I'm distracted?) because I know I don't have much time to get it all done before my cousin arrives on Wednesday afternoon. I also know that I will get it done so I'm not too worried at this point.

Distractions are what makes life interesting and frustrating at the same time and there are times when I have to be firm with myself and do one thing at a time before moving on to another. Multi-tasking is a myth in my world. I can only do one thing at a time and until that one thing is done, it's just one of a thousand unfinished things that fill my head and prevent me from sleeping at night. So now I'm going off to do one thing and then strike it off my list.

* door-handle lesson: A lesson planned as one opens the door to the classroom, and taught as soon as one enters the room.