Growing Patience

Patience is a virtue, but when it comes to dealing with the cable company it can be a miraculous event. Three months ago I put down a payment to get cable to may house (there aren’t enough customers for the cable company to bare the expense). Three weeks ago they started the whole “we’ll be there at the first of the week.”

My husband is not happy. By postponing bringing high-speed internet to our home, the cable company is limiting the amount of money I can make. Writing online using dialup takes about 4 times longer that it would we cable. He wonders why I’m not throwing a fit.

It would be easy to go up to the cable office (they have yet to give ms a phone number to contact) and yell and scream and stomp my feet. In the end all I would have is sore feet. The truth is all I do when I get upset is ruin my day (and probably the day of those poor souls stuck listening to me). It won’t change the procedures that the company has to go through to give me what I’ve requested. It definitely won’t change the fact that in this area my only hope for high-speed is the cable company.

Growing patience isn’t just about accepting things that come your way, its about doing all you can until where you are until circumstances turn around. For it me it means putting death to procrastination and turning a few of my habits around to good.

1. Spread out the work. Instead of trying to get large amounts done in a single day, I need to work on getting a little done every day.

2. Do the hard stuff first. Anything that requires research over the internet should be done first thing in the morning (for some reason that is when I have my fastest connection).

3. Know my limits. As much as I want to be able to take on $1000 a week, it’s just not possible at present. If I don’t want to work 12 hours a day all week long, then I have to realize that my dance card is full.

4. Keep pushing. Online writing is an interesting way to earn a living, but print still pays better and it doesn’t take the internet to accomplish. I need to continue to work on my print career during internet down times.

If I can do all the work that I have scheduled and do it in the amount of time that I want to be working, then I can’t even begin to imagine what a wonderful world this will be when cable finally arrives.