Counting Ceiling Tiles

Depending on the job you get, you will either be always busy, always bored, or a mix of both.
Working as a data specialist at a university, 96 percent of my days are nail-biting, deadline-orientation. The best advice for chaotic “hit-myself-with-a-hammer” days? Breathe deeply and hopefully you get to listen to music on the job. For those boring “I-need-caffeine-like-now” days, my advice is to restrain your eyes from wandering to a clock. Stick a post-it over the bottom right hand corner of your computer screen if you have to, but don’t look.
I was stationed to babysit binders in a desolate white room for two hours without computer access. I missed my computer like a snowman misses winter.
After crossing every “t” and dotting every “i” in a report, I made the mistake of looking at the clock. Only 20 minutes (1,200 seconds) had passed.
Ways of keeping to keeping myself entertained ranged from singing the entire soundtrack of The Little Mermaid in my head, to counting the ceiling tiles, to contemplating my dinner options, to begging my IPod’s batteries to survive, to … well… you’re reading it.
In short, if you have absolutely no work to do… Find something (preferably work-related) and don’t look at the time.