In praise of puttering
And letting go of expectations of January productivity.
Heads up, friends. If you use Hootsuite for social media scheduling, read this article from the Globe and Mail about how Hootsuite is trying to build a working relationship with ICE. To heck with that and to heck with them.
It’s 11:30 in the morning, and I’ve spent the last several minutes admonishing my cat. “Ebenezer! Make good choices! Ebenezer! Ebenezer!”
As you already know, his choices were not good. A teddy bear suffered an attack, and several plants were sampled. Ebenezer was finally banished from my office when he put my coffee cup in peril.
This feline shenanigans followed a morning that was off to a very slow start, as I waited for Ryan to finish some of his own work so he could drive me to the optometrist for an unexpected repair to my glasses. (Success! Optometrists truly live up to this blog post of mine). It’s cold as heck here in Ottawa, and walking Clover the dog is a sluggish affair. So much for my hoped-for day of extreme productivity.
January’s been like that. I envisioned coming back from the holidays, chomping at the bit and ready to assail every editor’s inbox with the kind of pitches that make publishers just toss sacks of gold at your doorstep. I also assumed I’d be simultaneously burning up the phones (since when have I EVER voluntarily used the phone?) in a display of unrivalled networking excellence.
What I most definitely did not envision was coming back from the holidays with a cold. There is no such thing as mild sinus congestion when you’re trying to get your brain in gear to write. And then there was household stuff. And then there was the nightly horror show known as the news.
And so, it’s been a month of puttering, not productivity. Or has it? To my surprise, looking back on the past few weeks, it seems my puttering has added up to something. Have I launched the spectacular (and oh-so imaginary) marketing plan I wanted? No, but someone did reach out to ME and ask about my LinkedIn coaching services. Did every editor in Canada get a pitch from me? Also, no, but two did, as did two more in the US. Did I keep to my plan of reconnecting with five former colleagues each week? Ha. Not even close. But I just sent a note to one of them, and we had a really nice exchange. I’m keeping a colourful bar graph to track my efforts on different kinds of connections, and while it’s not as full as I’d hoped this month, it’s also not empty. I vowed to attend an in-person networking event each month throughout 2026, and I was shocked to realize the month is almost over (and, yes, I did check - there are no events happening for the last few days). However, I have registered for a gathering in February.
My January roadblocks have been of the look-at-the-big-picture-this-is-nothing kind. My health is generally good. My eyeglass crisis lasted just 90 minutes. My cat, well, let’s just say we are all well acquainted with his choices here. I know these are annoyances to be grateful for in a world in which the problems are very real and very big. If you, too, are feeling like it’s been a month of puttering rather than a more typical kind of productivity, know that that is okay. We’re getting by. We’re withstanding the storms. And we’re making progress. As someone said at one of the pitching power hours this month, sometimes it’s enough to just sit at your computer and see how things go. So let’s see, shall we?
Here’s to a gentle January.
PS: Ebenezer got back on my desk, attacked the pencil cup, ignored my scolding.