Sarcasm

I love sarcasm and snark in general. Guilty pleasure.

But it can also be a barrier to others, and I have to pick and choose when I roll it out. You have to understand whether those around you are going to get the joke the way you intend it.

Understanding sarcasm requires understanding the context behind it- without it, the joke is lost. Self-deprecating sarcasm can come across as arrogance, which will immediately separate one from their listeners.

If everyone is in on the joke, it can be wonderful. Anything else will be awful. Use sparingly.

Batches

It doesn't apply to every workflow, but there is tremendous advantage to doing work in batches.

My work often arrives in bunches, where I will have 10 individual projects within one big project. There are a variety of ways to attack the work.

Some would do Project A start to finish, then dive in on Project B. If each project is different or requires customization, that's the best way to go.

But if each of project is a variation on a theme, or 90% similar but get painted a different color, batch all the work except the painting. (I would paint all at the same sitting, too, but you see where I'm going.)

Even though I'm reasonably good at each of the steps in my workflow, I notice that I'm better at each step if I do all of the action in that step at once.

This can be expanded lots of work that we often do on an individual basis, especially if we generate content. I often write a week or two worth of blog posts in one sitting, and let the software ship a new one each morning. I scribble notes during the week, then sit down and write, often on Sunday night. I feel that my writing is better, and that I do it in less time. When I add more content streams to my professional life, I will develop a batch method to them, also.

I've also cooked multiple entrees on a Sunday afternoon, then reheated each night during the week. I cook when I have the time for it, reheat when I don't. One big kitchen mess beats five little ones.

Some things don't lend themselves to batch work- like mowing the lawn. Batching my writing and cooking lets me mow when the lawn needs it, not when it's convenient to me.

Choices

Have you ever watched someone spend 20 minutes scrolling through the Netflix menu looking for something to watch? You can almost hear their brains freezing up at the options.

In this case the "cost" of making a bad choice- losing an hour to a film you don't like before giving up- is almost zero, yet the endless choices raise the perceived cost. With so many choices, the "perfect" bit of entertainment must be there, so anything less may be perceived as a failure.

The restaurant menu gives your options, but also your limits. We need the limits to begin to narrow our choices.

Peter

Term

I'm assuming the term "Rolodex" has gone out of fashion, and thus we need a new term to use.

As in:

"Do you have a good accountant in your Rolodex?"

The question is both literal and symbolic. I need a name from you, but I trust your recommendation.

"Address book" and "contact list" doesn't have the same cache. Submissions please.

Peter

Off The Grid

It doesn't have to be "off the grid" in the literal sense, although it helps to divorce one from the electronic tether back to the office, but unplugging from the daily info stream is an important part of my mental processing.

I've found my productivity has bumped up a notch simply by turning off email notification. The steady "Ping" was enough to drag my workflow down during the day, while simply checking in once I've finished the task of the moment is quick enough to satisfy everyone on the other end of the email. One or two hours of steady focus is drives far more value than instant response to queries.

In a similar way, turning off the electronics for a day or two and doing anything else- a nice walk, a chapter of that 500 page book you've been working on, a chat with your spouse- brings more focus to the job wen you return on Monday than stringing it out mentally all weekend.

Summer is a good time to develop the unplugging habit. Start tonight.

Peter

Knowledge

I'm the first to admit that there is too much to know today.

Too many software tricks to cram in. Software updates that come at you too quickly. Changes in tax law you must account for. A client list that needs constant nurturing. The new hot social media platform all the cool kids are talking about. The app that is turning heads. A Kindle full of interesting ebooks, a mailbox full of trades, an RSS feed with 500 updates a day.

Plus a family that wants to say hello on occasion.

Editing the list of demands becomes more important each day. Prioritize, delegate, lean on the specialists in your contact list. Hiring someone to do something in 2 hours that would take you 10 is probably money well spent.

Nothing insightful here- just a reminder that we all have reason to feel overwhelmed, and that it's okay not to know everything. You can't- but be sure to admit it.

Peter

Eating Frogs

There's a school of thought that if you do the thing you dread the most first thing in the day- like eating a frog- you get the dreaded thing off your plate and the rest of the day seems easy.

There's a good plan, but what if the thing you need to do first is something you actually like to do?

If you come in early because you are eager to start, is it still a frog?

Peter