Not Waiting. Not Hurrying, Either.

POSTED 12/08/2009 UNDER Productivity

SUMMARY: I've been busy, and feeling a little overwhelmed by the sense that nothing was getting done. There are two ways I deal with that, and a few mind tricks that help the process go more smoothly.

I've been feeling rather overwhelmed with the number of projects and inquiries I have going on, to the point where it started to feel like I wasn't getting anything done. There's two approaches I have to this:

I need to get more organized! - The classic response would be to start being more diligent with deadlines, make commitments and keep them, practice a methodology like Get Things Done, and be more careful about tracking my time. There was a time when this used to work, but I have, like the Borg, adapted to these techniques to the point where they are ineffective.
Accept the inefficiency and keep moving. - This is more the mood I've been in these days. In the absence of any publishing schedule or even work schedule, the best I can muster is to just keep making things and see what happens. It feels vaguely irresponsible, but perhaps this is the mentality that will get me through the doldrums. If I take a step back from myself, I can see that I'm actually being pretty productive on all fronts, but without external feedback it all feels like it's spinning in circles. Plus, I'm impatient and tend to want instant gratification, which tends to make me feel less motivated.

In either case, what gets me moving is the direct involvement of another individual. Someone to work with. Someone to show things to. Someone who has their own needs and schedule. This leaves me in the peculiar position of needing to have a client other than myself to help motivate me along with my personal projects. A client is not a coach or cheerleader, mind you. In this scenario, the client is someone who has a shared need that is applied to a different goal than mine. The Agenceum stuff is a good example of this kind of symbiosis. My goal is to write and create more original content, and in the meantime I need to generate some other income that's commensurate with my marketable skill set. The goals of Agenceum's hypothetical clients are to "get on the web right now" for little money, and then expand as they become more comfortable with the medium. The need we're sharing is the technology of the website (me to package my existing knowledge, them to be on the web) and starting a new venture (me to start this business selling simple websites, them to learn how to effectively market on the Internet). Our goals, however, are our own.

The quote, "Do not hurry. Do not wait." popped into my mind last week completely out of the blue, and I was so taken with the idea that I've been trying to apply it to my own situation. I'm interpreting "do not hurry" as take the time to do it right. And I'm taking "do not wait" as meaning drop everything when the moment of inspiration strikes and do. Which is totally the way I tend to do things. However, as a designer/developer doing work for hire, I'd have to amend my interpretation of the second phrase to be, don't procrastinate.

I'm finding that the most effective technique for not procrastinating, for myself anyway, is to turn off the lame part of my brain. That's the part of my mind that sits around the watercooler and thinks of things that I'd rather be doing. Or that there must be a better way of doing things, or that this is not very exciting work. When I turn off that part of my brain, I can let the other part of my brain loose to solve whatever problem is in front of me. That is always exciting, especially when it's for another person that has need of my expertise. It happens more easily in the presence of another person, I think, because when I am talking to someone I generally try to be fully present and optimistic about doing something that's interesting to both of us. When I'm by myself, however, I tolerate much more whining because, well, it's from me and I assume that I would be tolerant of anything that is produced by my own brain. But you know what? It's not acceptable. This is like when I started going to the gym, and my brain was telling me that I was feeling uncomfortable and I should stop. If the trainer hadn't said, "you can keep going", I probably would have stopped. And you know what? My body was utterly capable of going further. And so it is with my own productivity; there's a part of me that makes excuses, and since we're close, myself and I, I tend to take myself at face value. Perhaps that is the true secret of productivity: Don't take yourself at face value. Find another source that will tell you, objectively, what you're really doing, and then learn to act on it.

Comments

1. Fabian said on 12/09/2009 07:26AM...

The “switch off the lame part of your brain” approach sounds promising. This is indeed a big problem for perfectionist procrastinators and for me, getting practice in just letting go of thoughts that slow me down has been working pretty well. As it’s not always possible to get objective input from others, we better learn to cope with it ourselves…

2. Chris said on 12/09/2009 02:42PM...

You said “Find another source that will tell you, objectively, what you’re really doing, and then learn to act on it.”

In previous blog posts you have described your search for productivity as a search for an internal, automatic productivity meter, a bit like the good feeling you got from hard exercise.

The extreme polarity of these two positions—especially when uttered within 12 months of each other—makes me question whether there can ever be any one true path to productivity. Believe me, I truly wish there were, but the more I try to understand how to apply lessons from productive people to my own life, the less I believe it is ever going to be possible. Indeed, I have never seen anything from a productivity expert who was not always productive. It is easy for such people to tell you what they do, and that if you only do it too, you will be as productive as they. But as you and I know, it just doesn’t work that way.

I shall keep searching for a formerly unproductive, but now productive person, who can tell me how they changed. I hoped you would be that person. Maybe you will be one day. I hope so.

3. Dave Seah said on 12/09/2009 03:47PM...

Fabian: Yes, that’s it in a nutshell. One might describe the process as “internalizing objectivity”. Or perhaps, “ignoring the whiny perfectionist” in ourselves.

Chris: There’s a kind of person called a “scanner”, as popularized by Barbara Sher that finds it difficult to choose any one direction in their life, and perhaps this is related to the extreme polarity that you’re detecting in my life thread, as posted here. I certainly wish it was easy to pick just one thing and be absolutely sure about it, but it isn’t. Part of me feels that I _should_ have just one thing and be able to focus on it like everyone else, but this is not the case. Sher’s book woke me up to the possibility that I’m not alone in this, and that it’s a perfectly fine way to live.

With productivity, I think you need to assess the level of surety you have in it. You may be looking for someone who can tell you the magic formula, but until you also BELIEVE you’re being productive it’s not going to work even if you apply the formula successfully. When it comes to myself, I try to find ways of testing whether or not I’m on the right track. The automatic, internal productivity meter tells me that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do…but it doesn’t hurt to test that against an external measurement.

After many years of searching I now believe I have a general life goal, which is to be able to make a living writing about people doing stuff that I find interesting, and being involved in their lives in some way. In one sense, I measure my productivity against that. However, I find that I’m also having to make a living doing OTHER things in the meantime; that carries with it a different set of productivity measures. I think the difference is that in the latter, I don’t find it inherently as enjoyable as my life goal, and I therefore need to apply some external measures to keep me motivated. That’s just the way it is, I think, but I can see how it can be confusing and even demoralizing to contemplate. Thanks for the comment!

4. Federico Figueredo said on 12/09/2009 04:09PM...

First, let’s be on topic:

I find the piece very interesting, in fact you’ve made me think about several things that have helped me in situations similar to yours.

1) I write down how I spend my time during the day as I do things during the day.

I don’t do this trying to be productive or trying to be tidy, I just keep an accurate record of what I’m doing and how is time being spent (this includes time thinking about stuff, time trying to avoid doing stuff and time doing stuff.)

I find this is a chore that makes me be honest with myself and let’s me take a step back later to see if there are some adjustments I’d like to make and (very important) notice great decisions or activities that I chose to do.

2) Realize that there are two ways of thinking.

a) Thinking that goes on while you do stuff.

b) Thinking that goes on while you think about what you have thought and done (as well as what you will do and think.)

What I’m trying to do is to eradicate all notion of efficiency or judgement from the first type of thinking and only have that as a concious decision while I’m on the second mode of thinking.

—-

More off-topic: I had your site on StumbleUpon but haven’t checked it once since. **That** needs some adjustments. I’m really enjoying your material and I hope to read more from you from now on :)

Federico.

5. Marsha Egan said on 01/17/2010 10:22AM...

Your post reminded me of one saying that has helped me…

“If you don’t take the time to do it right the first time, when will you have time to fix it?”