SERGEANT HULKA: Soldier, I’ve noticed that you’re always last.
PRIVATE WINGER: I’m pacing myself, Sergeant.
–From the Movie Stripes
I’ve always been an all or nothing sort of guy.
When I was growing up my folks bought some horses. I wasn’t part of that decision. Really didn’t have any passion for the beasts, at least not at first. But I discovered I liked them, threw myself into working with them. Eventually found myself in an unusual place. I was an eighteen year old guy who was really good with horses.
Then I went off to college and I’ve maybe ridden a horse 5 times in the nearly 20 years since graduating.
I used to drink a lot. The short version is that I was a drunk. Then one day I stopped completely. Haven’t had any alcohol in well over 10 years now.
About a year and a half ago I got into blogging. My wife says I’m a bit obsessed. (I see no signs of that one slowing down yet.)
My two favorite food groups are coffee and chocolate. (I count Klondike Bars in the second group. They go good with coffee too!) I seem to prefer quantity over quality in these two groups, although that shows some signs of changing as I get a little older. I don’t know if my taste buds are getting more refined or if maybe my wallet is getting just a tich fatter.
What’s my point?
Well I tend to be a little intense and driven. I sometimes take on more than I can get done. And I often find the alarm clock rudely shaking me away too shortly after I fell asleep the night before.
Private John Winger, on the other hand was the other extreme. He was good at pacing himself. Perhaps too good.
He tended to be a slacker who had to learn to get things accomplished.
But he seemed to get enough sleep most nights.
Me, sometimes I seem to be on the path Neil Young talked about when he said, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
There’s got to be some good middle ground out there that will be healthier for us but where we’ll still get things done. The trick is to find it.
So I’ll throw the question out to all you smart Successful-Bloggers. How do you pace yourself?
–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations.
Chris – Great subject – you can really pick ’em.
I wonder if the question lying just under the surface is this: How important to you is the goal you’re striving to attain?
If it’s very important, why would you sabotage yourself by burning yourself out before the goal is reached? On the other hand, why would you ‘over’ pace yourself if it’s that important?
To use an extreme example for illustration, why would you take either approach when the goal is to get from point A to point B, when point B is the love of your life – and you have to get to her in a known finite amount of time, and her life is in danger?
Each goal has a value to us that’s higher or lower on the ‘scale’ we keep inside our heads. Horses just were not that important to you.
Does this approach make any sense to you?
Jeff, I get what you are saying (I think). From a practical viewpoint I know I’ll get more done if I throttle back a bit.
But I seem to always end up thinking, “There is so much that needs to be done! I better just do this one more thing before I take a brake.”
Next thing I know it’s three in the afternoon and I’m still in my pajamas. Or it’s midnight and I’m still clacking away on the computer…
Chris – Been there, live that. Just because I believe it doesn’t mean I always put it into practice. 🙂
I think that may be why setting goals with deadlines makes a lot of practical sense. We humans seem not to have a sense of timing that’s reliable.
Hi Chris,
Hi Jeff,
Great discussion! I’m going to keep reading to see the responses. It’s a challenge for me. Not only taking on too much, but underestimating the time it will take to finish a project in a manner that I’m pleased with. And focusing so intently that I lose track of time. So…
One tool I use is a timer so I am aware of and can limit how much time I spend on a particular task. It’s a good reminder for me to take breaks.
I’m writing so much I need to take it to my blog I guess. This is a topic I always find interesting. I’m reading some great books and I’ll write about those soon.
Sandy
Hi Chris, Jeff and Sandra:
It may start with knowing yourself and being aware of your behavior in relationship to your thinking. Super achievers tend to be their own worse adversaries sometimes.
Practice getting to that happy medium. Learn to make your creativity and desire to get things done a habit, with a routine and built in time to recharge — even the most driven among us need to get their energy back.
I think Liz has become a master at that, at lest from what I have observed: she knows how to create fabulous content that matches her time, speaks to her style, and serves her audience. She might agree that it comes with practice and a deliberate use of skill.
The other test is of course the test of love. Do you anticipate the work you’re doing? Or does it feel it’s taking the life out of you? If that’s the case, how can you break it down into more manageable steps/actions that won’t burn you?
Sandra, sounds like there are several of us in this group. We’ll all learn together.
Valeria, that happy meeting can be hard to find. The trick is keeping our balance so we don’t go insane.
Somehow I suspect that Liz doesn’t need as much sleep as some of us! 😉
Hi Chris,
I get pretty obsessive as well, so for a couple of days after I turn in a big project or article to an editor, I try to take “time off.”
I sort/clean/organize/do laundry/catch up on sleep and try to bring my surroundings in order, plus get in a few workouts to help clear my mind. The mental drumbeat that says, “Write! Write!” is usually held at bay since I DID just Write! and I don’t feel so guilty about stepping away from the keyboard.
I can’t stand it after a day or two, but it gives me the break I know I need.
Thanks for your post.
Sheila, that’s a great idea, building in down time. I guess much of what I do is ongoing and hard to count as “finished”.
I’m amazed at folks like you who can be relaxed by sorting/cleaning/organizing. For me those tasks are way too stressful to be anything approaching relaxing. Funny how we are all wired differently!
Chris, one technique may be to start thinking of everything you do as individual “projects”, each with its own objectives, resourse constraints, timelines, etc. (You may need to be creative in assigning these to what would normally be considered “continuous” work.)
Then when a “project” is complete, it’s easier to “take a moment off”, as Sheila suggests.
Tom Peters once wrote “All work is project work”, and the more I’ve thought about it, the more I think he’s right! In fact, by taking this mindset, it actually makes life easier to manage – ESPECIALLY when full of “stuff” to do.
Chris, one way to manage all the things you do is to try thinking of them as individual “projects”. Then, assign each one its own objectives, resource contraints, timeline, deadline, etc.
This may require some creativity for work that is usually considered “ongoing”, such as blogging, for example. Although writing blog posts may be a more-or-less continuous activity, writing a SPECIFIC post, like tomorrow’s post, can be seen as an individual project. Likewise pretty much all other work.
Then, as a specific “project” is finished, it’s easier to justify giving yourself some downtime as Sheila suggests.
Tom Peters once wrote “All work is project work”, and the more I’ve thought of that, the more sense it makes. By making all your tasks into projects, you actually make it easier to manage them, not harder.
Robert, first of all you are not going crazy and your apparent double comment is not your fault. Askimet tried to eat your comments for some reason and we had give it the heimlich maneuver to get them out.
I like your idea of counting each task as a separate project. Sounds like what I need to do is a little more planning in my personal life so that I can get more time to rest.
Chris: I mastered the art of burning the candle at both ends in college. I’ve hit the wall and burned out 3 times in the last 13 years — and the last time hurt the most.
I’ve had to learn to schedule my days so that I have at least 6 hours of sleep a night. So that I have 2 hours of “nothing time” before I go to bed for watching TV or a movie, reading, hanging out with the pets, or generally unwind. Had to learn the same task planning that Robert suggested. It took me four months before all of this became a semi-comfortable routine. I still get a lot done — too much by some people’s standards — but I make better use of my time when I work.
The workload at a previous job led to my developing chronic RSI issues in both forearms and wrists. I had to train myself to get out of the work-for-four-hours-straight-without-ever-taking-a-break mode, regardless of how much work I had to do. I have software on my computer that makes me take my hands off the keyboard for a couple of minutes every 20 minutes, and that nags me into taking a 10 minute break every 60 minutes (there’s a timer, and when time is up, I enter a password so I can get back to work). This still isn’t a comfortable routine, but I’ve adjusted…and my productivity hasn’t suffered.
I also use voice recognition software. It’s not uncommon for me to be dictating an article or an e-mail while I’m filing my bills. It takes some skill to pull that off, but it helps me to get things done before my daily “nothing time” starts.
I haven’t yet crashed hard because of overextending. I usually just have to sleep for about 12 hours straight at some point. My body won’t let me do otherwise, it seems.
That’s some good practical advice there Whitney. You’ve just left it there for us to implement.
Chris, I go 100 miles per hour at every thing, still drink,but belive strongly you have to have balance. When I worked in the Corporate world, the perception inside was I did not work hard, my wife felt I was a workaholic. I found time for myself and was not concerned about being first to the office. I would hit the gym at 6 am and work out for 2 hours and then get to work by 8:30. By the time I was at work I felt good because I found some me time. I got more done than the people that got there at 6:30 to 7, because they were for show and I was for doe. Nice post
Jim, you bring up a great point (and hit a sore spot at the same time). Exercise will do loads to help reduce stress.
Getting off my butt would probably help out a ton as far as my well being is concerned…
Chris – There was a double-blind study some quite awhile ago, dealing with mild depression. Obviously that doesn’t fit you, but the results might. They were able to significantly reduce or eliminate medication for most of those who jogged daily. It doesn’t have to be jogging, but you get the point.
When I was running 50-70 miles weekly for marathon training, intense stress had surprisingly little effect on me. Maybe I was just too tired to care? 🙂
Ooph! He takes another body blow to the soft midsection.
Is my wife paying you guys to say this stuff? (Never mind that it’s true. That’s not my point.) 😆
Wives tend to pile on when they can – and seem to think it’s all ok as long as they chuckle while doing it. 🙂
My wife used to pat my stomach and ask if I worked out that day.