Every morning I come to work and before I'm able to function in a money-making capacity, I must read the goings-on in the blogosphere. It's my routine, you see. And every morning I tell myself that I'm only going to read my one "news" page (the Drudge Report) and my 3 must-read's for the day (Instapundit, La Shawn Barber and Michelle Malkin, in that order). Then I tell myself that I'm going to close my browser and get busy. 2 hours later, I'm still going, clicking around the internet, obsessed with some story or another, wanting to see everyones take on it.

This morning I counted how many blogs are in my favorites folder - there are 50. I read probably half of them each day and I check Drudge and Instapundit all day for the updates. The truth is, I don't really start working until after I get back from lunch.

Oh, the guilty conscience!!! I beat myself up every night for not having the discipline to work a full day. But guess what? I'm doing far better at my job than ever before! I pondered this last night and I've come to the conclusion that each afternoon when I buckle down, I just become more efficient.

I had a job once working for an accounting firm in a secretarial/administrative capacity and I was told MORE THAN ONCE by the other support staff to slow down. I was told to stretch my assignments out all day, because if I didn't then I would be given more work and I would make the other support staff look bad. Well, I didn't want either thing to happen. So I learned to look like I was working. Remember the scene in Office Space where the guy tells the consultants, "I work just hard enough not to get fired". That, my friends is how it is.

Now, having my own office, and my own hours, it just hit me that I don't have to work all day from 8 to 5 and make it stretch. If my work only takes 4 straight hours to accomplish, then so be it.

It feels good.

Shalom