Work, the Pop Quiz.
Some people start work and immediately dive into their neatly organised to-do list, crossing things off like productivity machines. I start work by staring at my screen and asking myself the same profound daily question:
โWhat was I supposed to do again?โ
I open my task app for answers, but all I find are vague notes that Past Me wrote with zero context, like โfinish that thingโ or โDONโT FORGET!!!โ
Forget what, Past Me? Forget what?
It feels like receiving cryptic messages from a less competent time traveller.
Let’s proceed to my inbox: that notification bubble from hell.
Forty-six new emails greet me like an aggressive fan club I never asked for. I open one, read it carefully, nod like I understand, promptly forget what I just read, and have to read it again. Halfway through the reread, I forget why I even opened my inbox in the first place and suddenly Iโm staring at my keyboard as if it personally wronged me.
Meetings: haha. No. Someone asks a question and everyone nods. I nod too, confidently, boldly, with zero comprehension. I take notes to look productive, but later I discover Iโve written things like โimportant?โ and a very intense doodle of a cube.
Lunch happens around noonโฆ I think. I only realise itโs lunchtime when I look down and notice Iโve been holding a fork for at least 30 minutes without food anywhere in sight. Just me, a fork, and the haunting awareness that Iโve been mentally offline.
Afternoons are a… special kind of mystery. By 3 p.m., Iโve definitely doneโฆ something๏น
Not sure what. Not sure how. Not sure why. But Iโm confident that somewhere in the universe, a task has been completed โ probably by accident, maybe by me.
As I wrap up the workday, I check my to-do list again. Everything still looks suspiciously unfinished, yet I feel weirdly tired, like Iโve run a marathon through a foggy alternate dimension where time (insert air quote around “time“) doesnโt behave normally and nobody remembers anything.
Productivity level: unclear.
Confusion level: consistent.
But hey โ another day in the Midday Maze survived.
Yay.
