Getting on top of your projects

by Sapphire (January 23, 2006)

Here’s a great article by Chris Garrett on Performancing.com, all about getting things done instead of letting them get on top of you. Even though he’s talking to bloggers, almost everything he says applies to any project. Like me, he’s the type to think and research an idea to death while someone else is out there doing it - imperfectly, maybe, but with a big jump start that ultimately puts them out front.

I had a bunch of new ideas at the end of last year, and I typed up my thinking behind them and posted that thinking here. But have I done diddly about them yet? Nope, still thinking. Plus, I’m letting myself get overwhelmed with one site - that one-time hobby blog that’s turning into a community. It’s poised for take-off, but right now it seems like every step foward requires a bunch of hopping around and dancing from side to side, or something. Okay, metaphors aren’t my specialty.

And don’t forget maintenance. All those little sites that require regular updating, and drag you into mind-numbing repetitive routines. You do them first, thinking once they’re out of the way, you’ll be ready to work on your new thing. But by the time you’re done with them, your brain is jello, and you’re not ready for anything.

And then there’s also real life. Sometimes your online stuff has to yield to the offline stuff, and I think that’s how it should be. When that happens, the best thing I can do for myself is not get frustrated, because that also dulls your brain so that when you get back to work, you’re not as productive as you should be. But when I manage to think of these times as breaks instead of punishments, I come back to work fresh.

One of the most interesting comments in the article, to me, was:

…there are two types of people, those who take action to try to avoid punishment or pain and those people who take action to acquire reward. Which type are you?

My natural tendency is to avoid punishment. About two years ago, I realized maybe that’s why I wasn’t getting any rewards, so I started to reprogram myself by “seeing what I can get away with”. Instead of doing everything people requested of me the instant they asked, I started putting things off a little. Pacing myself. Putting my own projects ahead of theirs, so long as I still met any obligations I had made. Not obligating myself every time I was asked to do so.

Every little lesson makes a difference.

Posted in Staying on Track
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