Git 'er done

Getting things done.

I write a lot about this, because it's a constant challenge for me. (Or, I should say, whine a lot about this.) There are a lot of productivity articles, blogs, books, seminars, webinars, college courses, etc out there to help with it. They teach techniques, skills, tools and offer all kinds of advice on finding ways to accomplish tasks.

I'll admit it. I've read some of those articles, books and blogs. I've peaked at notes from seminars and webinars. I even attended a few of those free classes when I was in college (way back when). I've tried lots of different techniques, skills and tools. I've listened to and tried out all kinds of advice.

Yet, I keep finding myself behind. There's always stuff I'm behind on or haven't had a chance to get to. Some of it is mundane stuff - chores, filing, investigating this or that or the other. Some of it is pretty non-essential stuff - gaming errata, gaming itself, fanfiction, etc. And some of it is fairly important, such as research into my health insurance plan or remembering to bring something into work or remembering to pay something on time. (Sorry, ADC!)

The consequences for not getting these things done vary from task to task. Not remembering to bring something into work can make my job harder and sometimes mess things up for my co-workers. Not investigating my health insurance means I don't always know what I can do with it other than throw money down on co-pays when I get the sniffles. Neglected chores leave me with a disorganized, cluttered and occasionally dirty space and the need to be up late doing laundry when I should be sound asleep.

Worse than consequences for me are consequences for other people. Often times, other folk are counting on me to get something done for them. When I do what I invariably do and drop the ball, I let people down or leave them hanging and I hate doing it.

I hate being the guy to drop the ball and I try really hard not to be that guy. Yet, I constantly find myself looking back and realizing I've done it again.



Right now, I've dropped a lot of balls and I've found myself really, really behind. I've been this far behind on things before - and I don't think I've ever really caught up from those other times. I do think it's possible, if I can figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I'm not a procrastinator by nature. I don't tend to put things off. I hate leaving things for the last minute, because I tend to do a crappier job of them. I'm good at crises and crisis management. I'm adaptable (for the most part) and great and improvising solutions. However, I prefer to do things right the first time and do so with enough time left over that if I messed up or if things take more time than I thought they would I have the time to fix things or do them right.

To my credit, I don't often find myself doing my tasks at the last minute. Getting given something to do at the zero hour and being forced by circumstance to jump and work on it quick, fast and in a real damn hurry through not fault of my own isn't anything more than handling a problem.

Being able to jump in and accomplish a task at the last minute isn't true productivity though. It's just crisis management.

Anyone who grew up in my family or around my family knows that one of the skills you get growing up a Rogers is crisis management. Another is cleaning up messes somebody left behind (and usually through no fault of their own.)

Productivity is being able to create or produce abundantly; to cause or bring about. (Productivity on Dictionary.com)

On a day-to-day basis, this means being able to accomplish the tasks you need to accomplish to keep your life running smoothly, do your job and get paid (which, really, is a task to keep life running smoothly in and of itself) and do the things you said you would do for others. In short, being productive is the daily grind. Whether it's getting up before the ass-crack of dawn to milk the cows and plow the fields or it's getting up with the sun to get into work on time, productivity is usually all those recurring tasks or jobs or things you just have to do whether you like them or not.

Okay, sure, there's lots of things in there I like to do and things your probably like to do to, too. Unlike a lot of folk I know, I actually enjoy my job - which tends to make the tedious and not-so-glamorous parts of it more bearable. I also have a work ethic that doesn't let me do anything less than my absolute best at everything I do, whether it's coding up a new page for the website or cleaning the store cats' litter boxes. (Which can sometimes be a roadblock - more on that later.)

Regardless of what you think of the things you have to do, they have to be done.

All the productivity training in the world boils down to one thing: just do it. Just get it done. All the tools and tricks and techniques and tactics out there teach you varying ways to keep track of what needs to get done, ways to manage your time, ways to prioritize and even ways to make some tasks easier to complete.

But at the end of the day, it's just a matter of someone getting down to it and doing what needs to be done. This is a matter of self-discipline. Of having the intestinal fortitude to put aside something else, get up and go do.

I have self-discipline in a lot of areas of my life. I've never been late to my job. In fact, I tend to be very productive at work. I have a reputation with the management of being the guy who gets stuff done (almost always) in a timely and efficient manner. And it's taken some work to get to that point. I'm sure some of my old bosses would say that while I did a good job, I wasn't considered as dependable as I am now.

No, most of my issues with productivity take place outside the workplace.

I could write a lot about how tired I am. About how much I hurt and about how little time outside of work my schedule affords me. But that would just be whining and throwing out excuses. I'm done with excuses. (Until the next time I don't want to take responsibility for myself or my actions. Which happens to us all, so don't point fingers.)

My youngest brother has always given me a lot of crap about my perfectionism. Instead of just getting something done, I try to make it perfect. It has to be done in the perfect order, in the perfect way, at the perfect time with the perfect result. This is partially a result of my work ethic - of wanting everything I do and produce to be of the best possible quality. I hate doing shoddy work and I hate being embarrassed by what I create or produce. However, when taken to the extreme, I get stuck in a self-destructive loop where I can't get anything accomplished because it won't be perfect. Either I keep starting over or I don't get started at all.

I hate breaking up larger projects. I like to get it all done at once so it's not hanging over my head or waiting to be finished. Remember when I said I'm not a procrastinator? Sometimes, procrastination isn't a bad thing. I need to learn that if I can't get all of a project or task finished at once, it's okay to leave part of it for later. If I really do have the self-discipline I think I do, then I'll be able to come back to it later and finish it.

(Yes. This might just be why I have trouble with my longer writing projects.)

I can hear my brother laughing at me and telling me: "I told you so."

Yes. Yes, you did.

I also tend to prioritize things starting with what I want to do the least instead of what's most interesting. The problem is that there's more I don't want to do than there are things I want to do, so I end up not working on the things I want to do - like gaming, writing, etc.

That, I think, is the major problem.

It comes down to one concept. Sabbath.

I saw that. All you folks on my friends list or on my Facebook who are allergic to religion just tuned out. Hell, I bet some of you just stopped reading and went on to something else.

I hope some of you stayed, because although I'm going to talk a bit about religion, the concept is one that's not just religious.

The idea behind Sabbath is rest. Fun, even. Doing something to recharge yourself for the next bout of crap you don't want to deal with. We all need a break from the daily grind. I'm not just talking about vacations or an extra bit of sleep or watching a television show. I'm talking about time you devote just to making yourself feel better.

Without feeling guilty about it.

Writing fic or my stories always makes me feel better. Blogging makes me feel better. Clears out my brain and leaves me more focused. The same for reading a good book or playing an RPG. Or even just going out and about and seeing something new or going to a new place without the purpose of accomplishing a specific task.

I'm really, really bad at this.

A lot of people are, really. For all that America is considered a very hedonistic culture, most of us are really bad at really doing things to make ourselves feel better. I think that's why we've developed such a dominant set of entertainment industries. Did you know that compared to most other 'first world' western nations, Americans take less time for themselves and invest less time in feeling better than almost anyone else?

Sure, this is a concept that, taken to the extreme, can make your productivity go down the toilet.

I think that our tendency to take it to the extreme, though, is a backlash against the culture of productivity we live in. (Yes, we do live in a culture that emphasizes getting things done, believe it or not. But that is a topic for another blog and another day.)

I think that's why Christianity has the concept of Sabbath - and it's a concept I'm just now starting to understand. Understanding it and practicing it are two different things, though. In order to properly devote time to recharging, you have to know what's really going to be quality and what's going to be empty fluff and it really is different for every person.

(And yes, for you Christians reading this, while writing it I suddenly felt a conviction to practice Sabbath. For those of you non-Christians, I finally realized what I'm doing to screw myself and what I might be able to do to start fixing it.)

In truth, I've neglected this for a long time. I spend so much time working and plowing through the daily grind that I set aside almost no time for myself. I thought I was, but I'm really not, and it's messing me up far more than I thought it was. (And this is not the place I thought this blog would end up. It's a bit more relevant than I thought it would be. Huh. Go figure.)

Thinking about it, I don't think I've ever been very good at practicing Sabbath. Part of me has always quietly considered it a waste of time - time I could spend better getting things done.

But, it's fairly obvious I'm not. Time to try it God's way and see what happens, I suppose. (Yes, you folk who are allergic to religion can probably tune out now, unless you like me enough to keep reading. But hey, you've made it this far, right?)

So there it is. Something resembling a plan.

The other part of the plan is just as hard as learning to relax and recharge. I have to learn to procrastinate productively by making myself leave parts of projects for later and start taking things in smaller, more manageable chunks. Otherwise, I'm going to end up really and truly burning myself out.

If you're the praying type, I'd appreciate it. If you're not...just remind me that it really is okay to relax. It's even good for me.

Or so I'm told.

This boring ramble is brought to you by Jayiin staying up to wait for laundry. Irony? Perhaps.