| Vol. 3 No. 15 July 24, 2008 |
| Reflections/Jonathan Gramling Procrastination? |
| Sheer gratitude WISC-TV's Maria Guerrero and her American Dream |
| It’s been one of those all night marathons again to get the newspaper out. It seems that no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get out of this last minute push kind of thing that leaves me feeling have crazy from the lack of sleep and the printer wondering ‘Is he going to make us late again?’ I am regularly accused of being a procrastinator, you know, someone who out of laziness or whatever leaves things to the last moment. Now I can see how someone might get the impression that I am a procrastinator seeing that I’m always hitting up against deadlines and sometimes missing them. By simple appearances, I am a genuine procrastinator. But I also have to keep in mind that I am a small business, community person. Heidi refers to me as community property because I am involved in so much stuff. I swear there isn’t a project I’ve come across that I haven’t liked. My newspaper reporting is out in the community, usually five or more activities a week Then there is the constant volunteering that I seem to do more than my paid work. (Why didn’t my parents teach me how to say no?) It always seems to come up at the darndest times, sometimes even when I’m in the last stages of getting the paper out. But I committed and so I have to do it. I’ve always had a hard time differentiating between paid and volunteer work — at least until it comes time to pay the bills. Then I know for sure. And then there is the bookkeeping/accounting work I have to do in order to make a living. The paper doesn’t pay much, except in a certain amount of goodwill generated in the community. So I work with non-profits as a part of my ‘day job,’ the one that really pays the bills. There’s a phrase from a Stevie Wonder tune ‘Don’t You Worry About a Thing’ that goes something like this ‘You’re the only one who knows the changes you’ve been through.’ Well in my case, I have to produce things or create things or do things for so many people in so many different organizations that I am always up against a deadline. And I can see why someone would think I procrastinate. I probably would feel the same way. All they see is me coming at the last minute with whatever I’m supposed to be bringing and probably assume I had some free time before then, which I could have better used to complete their project without all of the drama. Yeah, I can see what they mean except I don’t remember any free time. I remember working and I remember eating and I remember watching some news on TV and falling asleep watching some more TV. But I don’t remember any free time. So when I try to describe what I do, well first I pray and then I tell them I’m like an air traffic controller who has a number of flights lined up ready to take flight. And I have all of those flights in a row and they all have to take off in order. I can’t always move the others away so that one particular flight can take off. So I tell people to relax, that their flight will get to where it’s going. It just might not arrive when you need it to. But you do know it will arrive. So that is what my life is like on some days, a harried air traffic controller. I have people tell me ‘Well why don’t you cut down the number of projects you are involved in.’ Usually that person is someone I am working on a project with. So then I turn around and ask them ‘So you wouldn’t mind if I stop working with your organization?’ Well, they’ll respond very quickly ‘No that’s not what I had in mind at all. I was thinking the other guy, not me.’ And so I end up cutting no one because I hear that person’s plea and I’ll be darned if I’m going to cut the other person at their request. And then there is always the case of something coming up while you are getting the paper out. Life waits for no one and that is doubly true for a newspaper. I had to go out this afternoon to take some photos at a function. They didn’t ask me if they could hold the function on my go-to-press day and neither would I expect them to. But I had better get out there and cover the story if I expect them to call me next time, which doesn’t land on go-to-press day. So next time you see me out there and I’m looking a little harried and definitely a little late, just remember that poor air traffic controller. He’s trying to get the flights out on time. Honest! |