The Phil Files

“They” say that I’m ADD. That’s more than a little frustrating. What “they” mean is that I don’t go from point A to point B in a straight line, doing things in the way and in the order that “they” want me to do them.

Sure, I don’t read one book at a time, but 3 or 4 or 6 or 7 — except on vacation when I read novels in a day. Yes, I have three computers on, all with 3 or 4 programs open, and I’m using all of them, instead of just one. When I clean or straighten up, I don’t check things off neatly in order, but I do everything all at once. Sometimes, OK most of the time, I take quite a bit longer to get finished, but I always get more things done and more thoroughly … when I finally get around to them.

And on those other things I’m supposed to get done, well at the end of the day, or the end of the week, or at the end of the time allotted, I nearly always get more done, more read, and a whole lot more experienced along the way than the average point A to point B person that I drive crazy while I’m doing it!

I’m not sure how it is in your world, but life doesn’t happen in neat little columns and rows in my world. Stuff happens unexpectedly and lists get blown up or made irrelevant by more important things that happen along the way. Sure, lists are necessary. I live by them. If I lose my Droid and can’t get to my Google Calender, I’m hopelessly lost on what to do next and what to do when. Lists are necessary to help me know when I’m finished and to help me to not forget and to help me to have a sense of going somewhere. But lists can’t be straight jackets or detailed maps. They’re more like general itineraries to help me know the main stops along the way, but I get to choose the places I enter, the sites I see, the flowers I smell, and the vendors I share a laugh with. The list, my itinerary, is no more the journey than the snapshot is the experience.

Now I’m sure you may not agree, and if you do not agree, you are in the majority who think people like me are warped, weird, and need to be straightened out — at least when going from point A to point B. And that’s cool if it works for you, but it sure doesn’t ADD up in my world.

Enjoy the journey!