Everyone has something they’d like to change about their personality. There are some things we do that just drive us nuts, and the worst thing about it is that we know we’re doing these things but can’t seem to stop.
I’m not talking about habits here. I’m talking about the little patterns, rituals, and idiosyncrasies that are part of daily life. They are things that wouldn’t necessarily bother other people. They just bother you.
For example, here are my Top 5 personal annoyances in no particular order. Feel free to add your own.
1. Touching Base- When I get out of work, I have to go home before doing anything. Not that there’s anything going on there, or anything I have to do. It’s just something I need to do. And I’m perfectly fine with going home, changing my socks, and immediately leaving. But when I do something directly after work without going home first, I have something in the back of my mind that tells me I need to go home. Weird.
2. Procrastination- I’d bet that most people have this one. It’s very, very annoying. When I have, say, a web site to finish, I’ll do anything else before finishing it. This could include cleaning, blogging, laundry, dishes, etc. Not until I have succumbed to every possible distraction and have minutes left can I concentrate on the task.
When I actually finish something early, it’s a gret feeling. I can relax or do something else I’d been planning. But knowing how good it feels to accomplish something early is in no way motivation enough to prevent procrastination.
3. Too much caffeine- The first few hours of my day tend to drag. It takes a while for me to be fully awake. However, I always try to get past the dragging hours by drinking coffee, red bull, red line, full throttle, amp, rockstar, no fear, or any other energy drink or caffeine product that hits the market. This usually works, but sometimes I overdo it. And when that happens, I end up not being able to sleep at night. Which leads to being tired in the morning. Repeat.
4. Eating in front of people- I hate it. I don’t mind eating with friends at a restaurant or something like that, but at work- forget it. I don’t understand this one. No idea.
5. I can’t wait until- I tell myself “Everything will be better when….” I couldn’t wait until I moved out of my old apartment. Then, it was “I can’t wait until I get a couch in here.”
There’s always something.
Those are my five for now. Anything to add?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Getting up in the morning and rushing—I could easily make my lunch and iron my clothes before I go to bed, but I never do. Instead, I give myself 20-30 minutes each morning to shower, shave, iron & dress, make lunch (usually), feed the cat, brush my teeth and bail for work, which I am 95% on-time for. all the while I could have gotten up earlier to do this.
Even after posting this, I will probably think about it tonight, not iron or make lunch, and leave the alarm right where it is for tomorrow. I guess I just like the challenge.
Nate, I love this. I’m totally going to copy you.
And I can’t stand eating in front of people. The longer I’ve known someone, the more okay it is for them to see me eat, but I still don’t like it. I haven’t come up with a reason for it, though, even with all of the navel-gazing I do.
I’m totally with you on #1. Even in college, I always had to go back to my dorm room to “check in” (with who, I’m not sure. I always had a single) before I went somewhere else.
1) Checking my e-mail even when I know I don’t have any…one million times a day…for the “surprise” factor. But then I just get pissed at the people who I think should be surprising me because they never surprised me like I thought they would, even though I knew they wouldn’t.