"Yesterday you said tomorrow." Anon
"When all is said and done..." It’s a common expression. I’ve used it often and you probably have too. What we seldom hear is the corollary to this phrase. So try this on. "When all is said and done, more is said than done.”
That doesn’t trip off the tongue quite so easily. But it is frequently true. And why is that? One culprit is procrastination. Procrastination isn’t a fairy godmother bestowing extra time. It’s an insidious time thief. And what’s a favorite way to procrastinate (aka waste a lot of time)? The offender is often technology. Technology, in all its forms, can be a time saver but it’s often a time sink, especially for the tech challenged.
Time Sinkers
Bloating your inbox by checking email rather than dealing with it
Cluttering your desktop with pdfs and documents for want of file folders
Clicking remind me tomorrow (or never) for the software update
Knowing it’s in there somewhere but not having any idea how to find it
If you are feeling good about your computer skills because you can cut and paste or do a screen shot (I speak personally here), you might want some coaching. Otherwise, the digital world will leave you behind in a cloud of bits and bytes.
Don’t despair. A bilingual digital native-fluent in English and tech talk, can throw you a lifeline. For those who are at best, conversational in tech speak- the linguistic equivalent of being able to order café au lait and croissants in France, help can be helpful. A tech tutor can save you from yourself when you know a bit but it’s often just enough to get yourself into trouble.
Relying on children to bail us out when we make a colossal mess of things isn’t a strategy for success. They might rescue us in a pinch, but learning how not to make the mess in the first place is a better long-term plan. Find a teacher who can meet you where your messes begin, explaining things in a way that won’t make you feel like the village idiot. A good teacher can translate tech talk into plain English, allowing your skimpy language skills to morph into proficiency and maybe even fluency!
Don’t let your devices steal your time. Don’t fall prey to the notion that you’re getting things done when in truth all you’re doing is shuffling electronic piles- the 21st century equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Largely a waste of time!
Stop procrastinating. Be able to say, “When all is said and done, more was done than said.”