PANSY OR WHINER
Have you ever heard "them" say something like "If you don't have enough time, then you're too busy." Well, "they" are wrong.
I don't have enough time not because I'm too busy but because I'm a perfectionist, a procrastinator, disorganized and the guys in the black helicopters sneak into my house at night to hide my car keys and my wallet and my shoes and crash my computer. I know this.
Today I need to mow the yard, get my hair cut, redesign my redesign of my web site (again), study for the conference I'm teaching this weekend, rent gear for the live recording fast approaching, ask the twenty something people who haven't returned my e-mails to do so, return about as many of my own, fix my garage door, call to see why my floor hasn't been repaired, de-tick my yard, patch a hole in the bathroom wall (don't ask), reinstall OS X on my lap top (again), write an article, pick up a prescription, play baseball with my son, teach art to my oldest daughter, find my drivers license so I can fly, rent a movie to watch with my wife so we can have "quality time" together tonight before I leave town this week...and I'm sure there's at least as many things I've forgotten.
And this makes me angry at "them" because "they" haven't been me this week. I'd like "them" to be here now telling me what I can cut out of my schedule today and tomorrow and the next day. They'd probably say don't blog. You don't have time to blog.
But I'm not wasting time right now. I'm multi-tasking. (The bathroom makes a great office.)
What's worse is I'm surrounded by people like Brian and my wife who accomplish what seems like much much more than this every day and never complain about it. Not that I'm complaining. If I weren't busy I'd be bored and that's worse. It's just that I'm beginning to wonder if it's a cop out for creative types to say they aren't cut out to work and be all organized or if it's the truth and we're all just pansies wired in such a way that we can't handle the demands of a busier season in life as well as, um, accountants and what not. Or do the non-creative people around me get just as overwhelmed by their to-do lists but not express it as freely as I do? You know, publicly. On a blog. That seems to be the choice: Pansy or just more likely to whine in public? Quite a choice.
Break's over. Time for Photo Shop. Whaaaa!
I don't have enough time not because I'm too busy but because I'm a perfectionist, a procrastinator, disorganized and the guys in the black helicopters sneak into my house at night to hide my car keys and my wallet and my shoes and crash my computer. I know this.
Today I need to mow the yard, get my hair cut, redesign my redesign of my web site (again), study for the conference I'm teaching this weekend, rent gear for the live recording fast approaching, ask the twenty something people who haven't returned my e-mails to do so, return about as many of my own, fix my garage door, call to see why my floor hasn't been repaired, de-tick my yard, patch a hole in the bathroom wall (don't ask), reinstall OS X on my lap top (again), write an article, pick up a prescription, play baseball with my son, teach art to my oldest daughter, find my drivers license so I can fly, rent a movie to watch with my wife so we can have "quality time" together tonight before I leave town this week...and I'm sure there's at least as many things I've forgotten.
And this makes me angry at "them" because "they" haven't been me this week. I'd like "them" to be here now telling me what I can cut out of my schedule today and tomorrow and the next day. They'd probably say don't blog. You don't have time to blog.
But I'm not wasting time right now. I'm multi-tasking. (The bathroom makes a great office.)
What's worse is I'm surrounded by people like Brian and my wife who accomplish what seems like much much more than this every day and never complain about it. Not that I'm complaining. If I weren't busy I'd be bored and that's worse. It's just that I'm beginning to wonder if it's a cop out for creative types to say they aren't cut out to work and be all organized or if it's the truth and we're all just pansies wired in such a way that we can't handle the demands of a busier season in life as well as, um, accountants and what not. Or do the non-creative people around me get just as overwhelmed by their to-do lists but not express it as freely as I do? You know, publicly. On a blog. That seems to be the choice: Pansy or just more likely to whine in public? Quite a choice.
Break's over. Time for Photo Shop. Whaaaa!
posted by Shaun Groves @ 9/26/2006
18 comments
18 Comments:
Multitasking, in the bathroom. Shaun, I think you just passed the line of Too Much Information.
I think its all in the attitude with which you approach the tasks at hand. Do you want to do these things? Do you loath doing them? Are you of a mindset that says it must be done so just do it already? Therein lies the difference between accomplishing a task and being a pansy.
To add another thing to your list: you might look into the Getting Things Done system. It's all the rage these days.
I use a number of the practices myself, and it definitely helps me stay on top of things (to the degree that I'm staying with the system).
http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-getting-things-done/
http://www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php
Consider yourself buttonholed!
bvl
I would say, yes... the non-creative people around you get just as overwhelmed but don't express it the same way. I have about a million and a half things on my to-do list today, most of them there because I too am a perfectionist. However, when things get overwhelming for me, rather than express it, I hold it in and tell myself I am a freak for ever thinking I could accomplish all of that in the first place. Neither way is better, that's for sure!I wouldn't call either way a pansy or a whiner.. just different.
What I have learned is that what doesn't get done, will still be there tomorrow, and the next day and the next day and the next day. Today, I am taking care of my son who had surgery yesterday. He is laying on the couch perfectly content right now. I could be doing laundry, cleaning the house, working on stuff for the support group I am leading tomorrow, catching up on things from the office, painting my nails, mowing the grass, paying some bills, reading a book I need to return, giving the cat a much-needed bath, returning emails, etc etc. But, Tom and Jerry is on tv, and I am gonna watch with my son! How much longer will he want to do that? I better get in those things while I can, I figure.
May your day be productive, but mostly Blessed!
I, too, am adverse to doing things in a timely manner: mainly because they are uninteresting to me. But then again, I'm one of those weirdos who enjoys working under pressure.
adoral buddy.
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Yard mowed.
Hair cut.
Garage door unstuck.
E-mails returned.
Progress.
Shaun mate thank God for this post.............i completely know what you mean and i get this all the time but reading your post has clarified my thoughts on the matter............lol
supersimbo supports shauns super multi tasking
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YEAYYY! Don't forget the de-ticking of your yard, after playing baseball with your son which comes after teaching your daughter art but all that comes before a shower and a trip to town to get a movie for you and your wife to cuddle up to and before you drive to town you've got to find your drivers license and therefore would have it for your flight tomorrow.
whoever said they enjoy working under pressure...me too! I feel like I come alive! And if things are uninteresting to me, they are most certainly on the bottom of the to-do-list!
Ah, the abundant life. Is there a line where the blessings end and the curses begin? Impossible to say for all in general. But all those things seem like blessings to me.
you should just shave your head real short like bono's new look. see you tomorrow!
Wait, wait, wait...whaa?
Did you just say you had to reinstall an Apple operating system multiple times?!
That's the most shocking thing in this post... Apple guys are always telling me how crash-free their systems are...
My carbonlib file was decimated by... a Microsoft Office problem. Shocker. It wasn't Apple's fault. It was that heinous Gates character and his diabolically crappy program suite.
Hey,neighbor, it's not my fault you have a real job now. I didn't make you sell out. We had a good thing going - hanging out in the front yard every afternoon - and you went to work for the Man. Don't take your regrets out on me.
Shaun,
Breathe, take your meds, and play nice!
Beth
I agree, Gates can be mean sometimes. And yeah, I'm typing this in Windows, but that's because I can't really afford Mac hardware. :P
Here's a solution - openoffice.org - it's pretty good, almost on par with MS Office, FREE, and is compatible with the ".doc" format.
Semi-direct link for Mac downloading:
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/index.html
Anyway, I wanted to say that was a VERY awesome weekend with you teaching, and stuff. Rock on, dude!
-Christopher
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