*Reactionary Workflow/Attention Management*
July 20, 2010
…if total focus on the known important stuff in your life has to battle with a never-ending doorbell attached to your brain, it’s hard for me to imagine how your work, or your family, or your sense of who you are, alone in a room without the ringing, can possibly thrive. (via -43folders.com)
I’ve written about multi-tasking in the past, tried mono-tasking, liked it for a brief moment in time, then got right back into the swing of doing a million things at once.
I guess it’s something I’ve always done. When I was younger, it was ballet, swim, Sunday school, piano lessons. When I was in high school, it was marching band, concert band (also multi-tasking within band: flute, trumpet, mellophone), the literary club, National Honor Society, speech and debate, California Scholastic Federation, The Key Club, Asian Pacific Club, AP classes, beach cleanups, feeding the homeless, boyfriend, family, friends.
College was all about communications and theatre: playwriting, set design, essays, essays, essays, internships at Channel 933 and Virgin Records. Then there was all the partying – lots of multi-tasking there.
These past couple of years have been no different. Training for two half marathons, many work-related social media webinars, roundtables and conferences, coordinating and leading San Diego’s United Nations Charter Day event, coordinating and attending events as Marketing Coordinator for the Young Professionals for International Cooperation, participating in international art shows and submitting art to magazines, blogging, reading books, collaborating with SuperFood Drive, volunteering with the Special Olympics, the San Diego Food Bank, Operation Stand Down, Father Joe’s, Heart Walks, Scleroderma and Lupus Walks, boyfriend, family, friends, traveling, baking, socializing. Oh, can’t forget – tweet and update my Facebook status.
I was even able to run my own company, create products, sell them in boutiques across the country and do local designer and fashion shows for a few years while holding down a full-time job.
I thrive on multi-tasking.
Lately, particularly with Twitter, I feel like I’m in information overload world. It’s like the more I learn, the more I want to learn. The more people I follow, the more I learn about new people I want to follow. Then there are that many more tweets I need to read, every day, in order to be caught up.
It’s exhausting.
I was just having this very conversation today at work. There are so many emails, phone calls and Yammer messages that it gets harder to get things done because we’re busy answering emails, answering calls and responding to Yammer messages.
In his book “Making Ideas Happen,” Scott Belsky describes this reactionary work flow as “the state of always responding to what comes in to us. However through windows of nonstimulation you will reclaim the power to focus on what you believe is most important.”
How does one organize?
One way to think about getting your projects done:
Make it, release it, and make more. And never apologize to anyone for demanding the respect for your attention that you, your work, and the people who enjoy it each deserves. Make the time. (via -43folders.com)
Another way to plan, as suggested by Belsky in his book, is The Action Method. Although this feels like another interruption to the focus, I feel like there’s value in this. I created an account, downloaded the app and started a new project.
If you feel the way I do, I encourage you to read Merlin Mann’s essay, “Better.” Here’s an excerpt:
What makes you feel less bored soon makes you into an addict. What makes you feel less vulnerable can easily turn you into a dick. And the things that are meant to make you feel more connected today often turn out to be insubstantial time sinks – empty, programmatic encouragements to groom and refine your personality while sitting alone at a screen.
I need to prioritize and I need to figure out what my most important projects are. I need to turn off that Outlook popup mail notification feature.
I need to power off the laptop at 11:13 pm!
Scott Belsky, I hope this works.
