D W Stratton

Yesterday I had to do a task I have been avoiding for a couple days. I didn’t know where to start and wasn’t sure what the outcome should look like – two factors that I struggle with in a new job all the time. My inner drive to have things perfect didn’t help, either. It didn’t take much to distract myself and delay it yet again.

How did I finally focus on the task? I just everything else down on my computer – Outlook, Instant Messaging, browsers, anything that wasn’t related to the task. By removing all outside stimulus, I was finally able to keep myself focused long enough to get interested in the task. Once I was able to find a little thread I could tug on for awhile, I was was able to get the entire task done. It didn’t take all that long, either.

One thing that had kept me from starting was all the guesswork involved. Not everything is absolute when planning the future. These things drive me nuts because I like it to be “right”. By focusing, I was able to make educated guesses. I put the rationale in comments so I could remember how I cam to that conclusion later. When I bounced the ideas off the other project manager, she thought them all to be sound guesses. I hate guessing but I learned that I can do it with the best of them. I have a hard time admitting that since no one knows the answer, my guesses are good enough. By recording the reasoning, I will hopefully be able to defend the guesses later.

I don’t think I could have finished this task without shutting down the outside stimulus. When I don’t want to do something, any interruption will do. I will even look for them subconsciously. The trick for me is to rob myself of those distractions. What works for you?