Outside, the breeze gently wafts through the treetops as I write this column and peer out my window. The sky is a beautiful blue, and I would be tempted to take a walk around my apartment complex if I did not know that the delicate wind I am observing now would mercilessly pierce through my clothes and chill this native Mississippian to the bone.
My coworkers who have lived in areas higher in latitude may crack a smile reading those words because they’ve experienced days that have been more brutally cold. But considering my weather app is telling me that it feels like 21 degrees Fahrenheit beyond my front door, I am keenly aware that we’re still in the winter season.
Nevertheless, as I sit here wrapped in my Kirby (the Nintendo character) blanket and sipping warm tea from my “Back in my day, we had nine planets” mug, I have decided to do a little spring cleaning. Decluttering the desk in my home office feels satisfying, but decluttering my To-Do list is the real struggle, one that I know is necessary.
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Part of Nate Schumann’s job as an editor is to ensure that the stories he assigns are geographically diverse. Pictured is a screenshot of a spreadsheet he created to track articles by county. Screenshot by Nate Schumann ” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-213057″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Image-2-20-25-at-1.42-PM_cred-Nate-Schumann-1024×683.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>Part of Nate Schumann’s job as an editor is to ensure that the stories he assigns are geographically diverse. Pictured is a screenshot of a spreadsheet he created to track articles by county. Screenshot by Nate Schumann
Generally speaking, I am an organized person. For crying out loud, I create spreadsheets to keep track of my hobbies in my off hours to relax! But I—and I’m sure I’m not alone in this—can sometimes fall prey to the practice of positive procrastination, which is when a person avoids a particular task they know they need to accomplish by choosing to
