You had work to do, but you did the washing
The pattern, the irony, and what we do when the systems are failing.
So Reader,
I was supposed to send an email. Business-critical, as they say. Inviting the last 50 people to the London Coworking Assembly Forum on the 24th February.
It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon. My concentration was doing battle with the work. I had a list in front of me. I said, “I will do this email, then I will do the washing, and then I will come back and continue with this other article.”
I went into the kitchen. Before I knew it, I was unloading the washing machine.
I stopped. Went back to my computer. Absolutely amazed that I hadn’t kept to the list I’d just written—even though I knew the reason I was doing the washing was that the work I was supposed to do was mentally challenging.
It was raining heavily outside. Our flat is on the third floor. Big windows. You can see the rain. The building is always warm—no heating, but always warm. I felt cosy and protected inside.
This only happens when the work is hard. Easy work? No washing. Hard work? Suddenly, I’m the washing champion of Vigo. Probably the main reason I’m still married.
The Pattern
Last month, I discovered the AI analysis feature in 750words—the platform I’ve used since 2013 to write 750 words every morning. They call it “Reporting,” and it showed me something I wasn’t ready to see.
A clear line in the sand. Before diagnosis: flapping about like a fish out of water. After diagnosis: medication stabilisation, a month of finding the right dosage. Then everything clicked.
But there’s grief in that clarity. Realising that huge chunks of your life have been spent coping with ADHD and masking. Even now, with medication, with self-awareness, I still find myself loading the washing machine when I should be doing business-critical work.
I have a Pomodoro timer on one of my screens—a big, annoying countdown clock. If I don’t, I’ll start researching what type of car tyres were on David Bowie’s tour bus for the Serious Moonlight Tour in Australia in 1983. That’s where my brain goes.
Undoing years of habit compounding. Re-learning how to function.
The Irony
But while I was hanging the washing, I remembered something Melissa Richards, the owner of Buick Mackane coworking, posted about working from home and doing the washing instead of work. That pull toward domestic tasks when the “real work” gets scary.
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