When I’m shaving in the morning, a strange reverse psychological phonomenon often ocurrs.

“I’m running late…” I think to myself (most mornings I’m running late)

“…so I’ll get this shaving done quickly.”

“Now how can I optimise the process of shaving off all this stubble, so that I don’t miss any bits, but also I don’t go over the same patch unnecessarily thoroughly”

So then I concentrate on the shaving process, carefully planning the path which my electric shaver must take across my chin to achieve this fine balance. I don’t want to leave any patches of stubble, or individual hairs which will later irritate me throughout the day, but at the same time I don’t want to waste any time shaving too thoroughly. I repeatedly feel my chin to see if I’ve smoothed it off sufficiently in all areas. …and the whole process takes a minute or two.

Now the funny thing is… other mornings I don’t think about shaving at all. I just do it. Maybe because I’m too zonked out to think, or maybe because I’m not in hurry. Either way, I always manage to shave much more quickly, when I don’t think about how to do it quickly.

I’ve proved this to myself over and over again, and it annoys the hell out of me.