I’m stressed! I’ve made the classic mistake of biting of more than I can chew. With University, Work, Glasgow PodcART and various other design related commitments, I have a bit more than I can handle to say the least.
Instead of curling up into a ball and reaching for the nearest potent alcholoic drink (which in my financial situation is likely to be Tesco Value Vodka) I think I have found a way round it…
Two things about me, I have a penchant for procrastination and I hate dealing with details, bad combination. I love problem solving, design conception is where I excel. After this all to short phase in the design process, my enthusiasm for the project wains and procrastination runs rife.
The coming two months are going to be the busiest of my life, things have to change.
The Plan
‘Just Do It’ the famous Nike slogan.
This solution will probably seem like common sense to many and to be honest I am kind of embarrassed that this idea has never crossed my mind before.
The more I think about it the more sense it seems to make, in any given project I estimate that over 60% of the time is wasted with trying to find reasons not to do a particular task. It has got so bad that recently I found myself defrosting the freezer instead of validating mark up!
Procrastination starts a vicious cycle. The more procrastination, the longer a project will inevitably take, the less time I have to do what ever I want, thus increasing stress levels.
The solution to the problem is therefore two fold:
Planning- Each day I will write a lengthy to do list. I have a very competitive streak and plan to use this to my advantage. I will try and tick off as many items on the list within the shortest time period I can manage. Each day I will try to out do the previous day.
Just Do It - Anytime I find myself procrastinating I will take a point off that day. If I complete the task straight after, the point will be added once more.
This technique is based round my need to do better than before and my hate for the feeling of guilt if I under perform. I am pretty certain this technique will not be suitable for everyone and only time will tell if it even works for me.