On Getting Stuff Done

[nuranar]

This post grew out of some comments and discussion on my "eye-opener" post, about how much stuff I actually did get done last year.  Some interested questions brought about some moderately lengthy answers from me. And it occurred to me that expanding on those answers might be interesting, and maybe even useful, to others. (Do any of you remember WWKD some years ago? About how Katherine and Kendra both seem to turn out such amazing stuff so regularly? IIRC, Katherine's response is basically that she "just does it"! I'm too much of engineer to just dive in like that, but it did help me as a reminder that at some point, you have to stop the research and just get going.)

This is NOT a "How To Be Successful!" post.  It's merely the result of me looking at the numbers, going "huh, even a perfectionist thinks this isn't failure," and then pondering when and how I simply do the stuff.  A lot got done on holidays on vacations, but I'm going to focus on the day-to-day approach.



First, some caveats: This is very much suited for my circumstances and personality.  Circumstances, which I mentioned in the previous post, involve full time work, a large number of activities, and soloing the household. For what it's worth, my work is a 9/80 schedule, which means working 9 hrs/day M-Th, and 8 hrs/1st Friday, off 2nd Friday.  It's still 80 hours in a two-week period. Good things? 3-day weekend every other week. Bad things? 1 fewer hour an evening, and errands accumulate.  I like the 9/80, and I try to use it smartly, but it's not the secret to my success.

Personality: I'm an ISTJ, though more moderate than I used to be. I sometimes say I'm halfway to an engineer in my approach to sewing; I prefer flat patterning to draping.


I came up with three different aspects of how I do what I do:

1. I have a basic weekly structure.

Or, How I manage time.

My commitments - work and activities - are the same days/hours as a rule. I usually have the same hours, evenings, and days free, from week (or two-week period) to week. So I've developed a mental guideline for what to do on a given day. Days when I'm going somewhere in the evening, I don't usually try to sew. Instead, I try to do a little cooking or cleaning. I may sew if the activity ends earlier than usual, or I may wash my hair or something like that that doesn't have a regular evening.

I have plenty of flexibility in this schedule. It's just like having a "default" setting for any weekday; I don't waste time making the same decision every day.

I try not to work very late, at least on a work night. Ideally I knock off by 9 or 9:30, so I can get in bed in a reasonable time. I'm a slow getting-ready-for-bed-er!


2.  I am intentional about keeping myself motivated.

Sewing is not just finding the time; it's finding the focus and the energy - the motivation - to work. The most efficient motivation is a looming deadline. But that's based on a schedule that's outside my control. It's also the most stressful when it is in place. And if it can't be met, it can result in UFOs, shoddy work, or shortcuts to be regretted. The second, my favorite, the first "in love" moments of a project.  Again, this is outside my control - and often hits in the middle of another project!

You'd think that ISTJs have the easiest time in working, because it's part of our wiring to be dedicated and work faithfully on a task. But it's still tiring, and risks turning a hobby into a duty. I realize that certain things I do can actually manufacture motivation:

Vary the type and timing of tasks to keep the motivation fresh.

I have a lot of non-sewing activities.  But each activity is physically, mentally, and even geographically different from the others. "A change is as good as a vacation."  I work on a computer all day at work. An intense choir rehearsal that evening is a totally different activity: I'm thinking about music, about singing, about my stance and my breathing, controlling my voice. It's a complete vacation from work. As is Bible study, sewing, cooking, and even cleaning. They're all in different places, too. The variation keeps me refreshed. As I tire of one thing, I have something different to look forward to.

The converse is true. Blogging feels like work, because it's just sitting at the computer. It's not much of a break. Physically, and even mentally insofar as I'm working the computer, there's no change from work. That's a big part of why I was so irregular with my public blog. I have to put so much more into it.

This principle works even during the same day. I noticed this year that even when I did have a full day free for sewing, I usually dawdled for hours and didn't really get going until sometime in the afternoon. I had a free Saturday last week, and I deliberately decided to do other things, like running to the post office, and making some Super Glue repairs I'd been delaying for years. I got stuff done, and by the time I was done I was eager to work and keep working on the stays.

That example also shows timing. My weekly schedule has been "back loaded" for quite a while: with commitments both Monday and Tuesday evenings, every week I have a stretch of three full work days and two evenings where I can't sew. By Wednesday I'm anxious and stressed because I haven't made any progress. And the flip side is that Friday, Saturday, Sunday can be too full of sewing, and I get a mini-burnout. I can't control the weekly schedule, but I'm working on small ways to vary it to minimize both stress and burnout.


Dangle a carrot in front of myself. In other words, bribes work! (And I don't mean with food!)

My sewing room is a separate room, upstairs. I keep the computer there, partially because it's logical (workroom!), but it keeps me from ignoring the room and the projects.

I watch DVDs, movies, and sometimes Hulu, constantly. I get BORED at cut-and-stitch monotony and demands something else going on. And I've learned that if I'm bored while sewing, I'll put it down and go read a book. I need another carrot - watching something - to keep me sewing and away from the book.  Of course there are parts of the hobby that are less boring; but unless I need full concentration, I'll keep it on. This IS multitasking.

I prefer TV shows to movies because they go on so long. I don't often stop and push buttons, but I also don't have to keep deciding "What next?" when each movie ends. Making decisions isn't easy for me, so I save the brain power for sewing and just start another 3-season show.  Also, TV shows are less complex than complete movies, so they're easier to follow even when mostly just listening. It can depend on how "listenable" the show is, too. Mission:Impossible would be frustrating because it's all action. Conversely, the Dick Van Dyke Show and Hogan's Heroes are great because their humor is both verbal and situational.

Sometimes an extra yummy carrot comes along, like Airwolf last summer. I liked the show so much that I wanted to go upstairs to work on the court dress, because then I could watch another show or two. A major Half Price Books coup before Thanksgiving was finding the entire runs of both Airwolf and Remington Steele on DVD. I'm also accumulating Magnum, P.I. Eight seasons on that one! Lots of carrots!

Fuel up on accomplishment.

Finishing something gives me a rush of motivation. Literally crossing out something makes me go "Yes! I'm making visible progress! On to the next thing! Go me!"  Conversely, getting stalled on problem things or slogging through a single length project can be very demotivating.

For problem things? I side-step and go accomplish something else, and the quicker/easier the project the better. It gives me a break from the problem and the chance to mull it over, but also I get that jolt of accomplishment-fuel.

For long projects, I break them into particular tasks. The more of a hassle a task is, the smaller I break down the tasks. Like I hate testing a pattern; so I put down printing/tracing the pattern as a separate task, so at least THAT is done. Or sewing on hooks and eyes! Separate task; don't lump it in with assembling the bodice, which is easy.

I also try to vary the length/complexity of a project. When I just finish a big one, I do a smaller one instead of diving into another big one. This is similar to the earlier point about varying tasks.

It makes me feel so good to mark things off a list! I have been known to write down things I have already finished, just so I can cross them off. It's a trick that works even on myself.


3.  I take a deliberate approach to the structure of a project.

The most personal part of my how, and probably the most tied up with my ISTJ-ness.  It's worked into the previous points about managing/scheduling/structuring, but there are a few more things that didn't really come in there.

First, I've learned to do the computer/book-based things far in advance. I resource, source materials, buy materials, plan out construction, buy materials, look up what I'm not sure about. Since I'm so intentional about managing the actual work of sewing, it throws my focus all off if I'm missing a material, or if I suddenly realize I don't know how do to a certain thing. I stop and shop or look it up, and before I know it I'm at an awkward place in a task and the evening is gone. Result: anything from dissatisfaction to frustration to total loss of motivation.

Second, strategic timing. The structure of my sewing sessions tends to be one or the other: short, 2-3 hours at most, on a weekday evening; or long, anywhere from 4-5 hours on a Sunday, to 12+ on a free Saturday.  Regular sewing work - layout, cutting, and construction - can happen on any of these times. But my less-favorite parts, like muslining and testing and re-patterning, are best done in a longer period.  Otherwise, I'm fully capable of dawdling away a short evening - delaying the task - until nothing happens.  It's better to do a simpler task that evening, and then focus on the big one during a block of time that I can't totally waste.

I took this approach with making the 1780s stays pattern on the 18th and 19th. First it was a mental determination that I WOULD have a pattern ready to go by Saturday night. Second, on the 18th, I sized up the Corsets & Crinolines diagram and did the rough muslin test, just to make sure I was in the ballpark. Third, most of Sunday I just tested, changed, and tested again, until I had a pattern. That process would have taken at least a week's worth of short evenings and a LOT more mental energy. But finishing it in 1 or 2 successive days left me super charged up on accomplishment and raring to go.



Aaaand that's it! Most of this, now that I've written it, is simply the result of (a) identifying when and why I don't get things done, and (b) finding strategies that give me the when and the why.  There's also a healthy helping of Staying Self-Aware in it. It's taken me a long time just to recognize that I'm feeling frustrated, or blah, or unenthusiastic. Once my mind kicks in at that level, though, I can think through to the why and do a fix-it.

Hope that wasn't too boring!