Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Resting, i.e., goofing off, is often a necessary zero-th step in concentrated work.

Many years ago, a baseball player was asked about his team bad first week of the season. Is answer was something like, “We were backing up so we could have a running start.”

I can (1) work all day at a mediocre level of effort and concentration. I can (2) work most of the day at a high level of concentration and productivity. I cannot (3) work all day at a high level of concentration and productivity. Try as I might, number (3) just doesn’t happen any more. It probably never happened in my life.

I have to back up before running full speed.

Such “backing up” looks like different things to different persons. To most, it looks like I am “goofing off.” (Why do we use all these phrases that end with prepositions?) Sometimes it even looks remarkably like taking a nap at my desk.

Such rest precedes concentrated work resulting in high-quality products. I wish I could do (3) above. I have searched for years for the magic formula that yields it. Sorry. Haven’t found it yet. I guess I will settle for (2). Time to back up and rest before the next run.