Dither and Delay Tactics VI

I was contemplating the title I have awarded this blog and decided the words I selected required a little further contemplation and explanation.

I like the word ‘dither’.  It points to a spontaneous and momentary hold up in the proceedings; longer than a hesitation but nowhere as long as a postponement.  I also like the word because it so aptly describes the fiddle-faddling I engage in before I take the plunge and launch myself at the desk.  The sort of dithering I do before I jump in cold water, go out into the rain or blazing heat and at the front door when recheck I have all that is necessary. It does not have the negativity of procrastination that ‘thief of time’ Dickens/Edward Young against which so many politicians, reformers and philosophers rail; see the raft of internet stuff on beating the problem. (I liked the words of Martin Luther King Jr. ‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase , just take the first step.’)   It is a much less sinister word than equivocation which infers moral dodgem cars about shouldering proper work; Shakespeare explains it so much better than I do in the Porter’s speech, Macbeth Act 2 Scene 3.

I also think that delay is relevant description of my approach to my work.  A delay implies a considered and necessary hiatus in the planned programme.  It is tactical rather than impulsive; a logical response to unforeseen circumstances or a social interruption to the routine.  Delay is about choice.  Though I do bear in mind Pearl S. Buck’s admonition that one ‘should not wait for moods.  You accomplish nothing if you do that … just get down to work.’

I must make a ‘shout out’ for my dear, diverting companion when I consider the intensity of words.