Miss Multi-tasker

Those who know me well know that I tend to have a problem keeping focused at times. I’ll happily skip among projects with ease. In class, I have to be doodling in a notebook (usually writing stories), or I literally will not hear the professor. That’s why unless I really enjoy the material, I prefer smaller classes that let you interact with each other more than lectures. Lectures, if I’m not doing anything, will normally make me very sleepy. It’s the same way with writing fanfics, doing sewing projects, playing video games, cleaning, etc.

Bill, the Internet and photo guy who sits next to me at work, commented on it yesterday. We were chatting about the three-hour libel seminar everyone in the newsroom attended and as normal - when I’m not allowed to be distracted - I tend to nod off and doodle on my pad. Yet I could still recite everything the guy lectured about. Bill said he noticed it with my work too. I tend to get bored very easily. I’ll go back and forth between layout, writing a story, messing on the Internet, organizing my desk and doing other stuff. Yet I’ll still get all of my work done in a timely matter.

Bill said that it was actually a sign of how smart I am. I’m so quick to grasp onto stuff that I get bored very easily. He added that it’s very refreshing. I think he was alluding to the lady who previously sat here. Folks keep mentioning that when comparing my predecessor and me for some reason. It’s odd.

Then he asked me what my IQ was. I’d forgotten. A half hour and an IQ test later, we discovered my IQ’s 123. I joked that I’m brighter than 91 percent of the population. Of course, the thing that drug my score down was math. Blech. Math and I don’t get along at all.

Journalism is the best career for me then, I told Bill. You never do the same story twice (unless you’re in places like Selma where feature-wise, nothing goes on) and there’s something new every day. He agreed with me. I wouldn’t function well in a career such as accounting or even teaching. Journalism grabbed me because I’m the type of person that’s constantly learning and wanting to know new things and what’s going on in the world. When I put my mind to it and stay focused on something, I can do an outstanding job (by the way, I won another MegaAward honorable mention! Squee!)

So I feel a lot better about my tendencies to get distracted. Being a multi-tasker is helping me to do my job better. Oh, and while I was writing this post, I was also surfing “News Page Designer” for Sunday front ideas ;-).