Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Art of Procrastination.

When we left the UK (over a year ago now) to come and live here in Gozo, my plan was to take some time out, change our house here from a holiday home into a house for living in full time and generally get involved in a bit of self indulgence.
It is amazing how not having to go to work in the morning changes the way you organise your day, for example I could get out of bed any time of the day I wanted, so I am normally up between 6.00am and 6.30am every morning. Having plenty of time on your hands to get things done does not actually get them done any quicker, in fact, as there is no pressure it takes longer than it would if you had a full time job. Instead I would maybe, go to the gym or go for a swim or go to the bar for a spot of lunch and a chat.


When I retired from the London Fire Brigade I brought with me an array of skills accumulated over my 30 years service, here to Malta and Gozo. It has always been my aim to try to utilise these skills on the islands. I talked about it a lot, and then procrastinated a bit, I even had business cards printed, and procrastinated a bit more, I even put the word out on the street, (the grape vine is wonderful here) and then a bit more procrastination. The one thing I did not do was get up off my fat arse and do something about putting myself out there. Well I have done it, I contacted Malta Enterprise and asked them what I have to do, and if they know whom might be interested in my skills, they sent me a list of businesses and told me what I need to do to comply with local business law here.

Now I should point out that I am not looking for a job as such, I am setting myself up as an independent, self employed Fire Safety Consultant. I have contacted all of the businesses on the list, written them a letter and attached my CV. All have read my letter and CV and every single one has requested an interview with me. So many trips to Malta coming up.

Watch this space for updates.

'Procrastination is the theif of time' Edward Young.

4 comments:

Michael said...

Cool, best of luck with getting gigs :)

Being self-employed one of my biggest battles is procrastination and diversions that take me away from work.

Anonymous said...

Ohh nice! Good luck! Stop procrastinating and get to work :P (this is from one who NEVER *big wink* procrastinates). Hehe...Hope you get some jobs and enjoy them while you're at it!

chris green said...

Your services are desperately needed at Teatru Manoel in Valletta - although your advice might be that they close this building immediately.
I have written to them on a number of occasions but my comments are ignored.
It'll make your hair curl!

Unknown said...

Hi Chris, in most EU countries if a building is found not to be to current standards, 1st a warning would be given, and time to comply. If that failed to work then heavy fines are imposed, and in the most serious cases (if someone dies as a result of said failure to comply), a term in prison.