Cafe Leone

For those that don’t know, but for some reason care, Analysis Paralysis is the case where the cost of analyzing a decision outweighs the benefit of action. This is essentially the state of thinking about doing something, but not doing it (not really, but it is a way to look at it). This is my biggest personal flaw, besides being a mediocre parent, a mediocre-er writer, and the mediocre-est self-deprecator.

Analysis Paralysis manifests itself in so many ways in my life that I thought I would share some of it with you. Basically, I thought I would bare my soul to you, embarrass myself and, quite possibly, be moved into action.

I was watching my son the other day, “getting ready” to do his homework. I have often noted in my posts that he is very adept at “getting ready to begin thinking about starting to commence” his homework. He meticulously went through each of his 5,798 pencils, looking for the perfect one. Then he set up his workspace with one of his 4,290 notebooks, pads and reams of paper. He then proceeded to get a snack to give him an energy boost of course. Afterwards, he asked me to borrow my IPod and since we live in a closet, I let him listen to his playlist while doing homework because it is either that or listening to me shake my cane at my other baby goats. He fiddled with the IPod until he found the perfect Crazy Frog song to listen to and then he finally lifted his pencil and put it to paper. Thank the gods that he did, because one more second later and my head would have popped off.

Then I had an epiphany, something akin to Harry Chapin when he realized “my boy was just like me.” I know full well that this behavior was strictly a procrastination technique. This is not exactly the same as what happens in my life, because I do not believe I am procrastinating. I sincerely am looking for the best decision, but in the process of deciding, I am essentially paralyzed.

Here are some ways that this manifests in my life:

1. Writing: I spend a lot of time thinking about finishing my novel. Despite the fact that I put it down all the time, I am actually quite proud of my initial attempts at writing. But, lately, I have found myself saying “I want to write tonight” but instead of writing I sit there and wonder if I should write longhand or write on the computer. Then I wonder if I should write online using ZohoWriter (highly recommended) or write using the YWriter software. Then I wonder if I should move forward in the novel or rewrite a previous chapter because it clearly sucks. You can guess what happens: Analysis Paralysis.

2. Reading: I have approximately 500 books on two bookshelves and possibly three times that in RubberMaid containers in the basement. Of those 500 books, I sincerely and eagerly want to read about 30 of them. The rest are fine collecting dust. But, when I am bored out of my mind and I have officially read the entire internet, I go to the shelf and try to decide on one of those 30 books. Each of them has a bookmark conveniently placed on page 5. You can guess what happens: Analysis Paralysis.

3. Organization: This is almost literally what happens every single day: I leave work anywhere between 5 and 7. I get in my car and get to the exit of the parking lot. I then call my wife and ask her what direction I need to go. Where am I supposed to be now? Who am I to pick up from where? What meeting or parent group do I attend tonight? (All these questions happened before I got sick. Now I don’t drive, and all I do is get my butt home and lay down in bed, writhing in pain).

I am a big fan of the Getting Things Done (GTD) system of productivity. If anyone is looking for a way to be more productive in their personal and/or business lives, I would highly recommend reading David Allen’s book on the subject, Getting Things Done. The really cool thing is that there are a ton of resources on the internet to guide you through the process. There are also myriad ways to implement the system, from very low-tech index cards stuffed in your pocket, to high-tech web apps. I am a fan of both sytems. You can even find a category on Flickr to see photos of how others have implemented GTD into their lives. Cool. I have fallen victim to the classic problem with GTD. There are so many ways to incorporate this into your life, that I spend more time trying new ways to be more productive that I end up being very unproductive as I am constantly copying todo’s and calendars and project lists from one system to another. For those that are interested, I am settling on a combination of some apps that I HIGHLY recommend you try: Google Calendar, Remember the Milk and Jott (awesome utility that I have been using for over a year! I can’t live without it.). That does not mean these are the absolute BEST tools to use, but they are fitting into my life and becoming a “trusted system,” which is extremely important to GTD.

4. Work: in 43 years on this planet, I have never taken notes. During meetings, I am not a note taker so I spend a lot of time after meetings wondering what was said. On more than a few occasions, I have been forced to remember what was discussed or how a problem was solved and I was completely empty handed.

Towards the end of last year, I made the decision to find the best method of note-taking that works for me. I am not fast at writing longhand and what usually results is barely legible, but I LOVE the feeling of freehand writing. I am a huge fan of the Circa system of note-taking. Highly customizable and I find that if I spend a little money upfront, I usually take the system more seriously. This is why I do not use the generic spiral notebooks and Bic pens found in every office. I also have toyed with Evernote for my laptop, but of course, this means that I need to carry my laptop into each meeting. This is a little inconvenient and I think that the perception of the other meeting attendees is that I am doing emails or distracted with something else. So, I am settling in on longhand for my note-taking which then is reinforced by the fact that I typically transfer these notes digitally at some later point.

The point of this too long of a post, is that I have been dealing with this Analysis Paralysis for so many years and I am finally getting to the bottom of it and facing it head on.

Question for BoMR (Both of My Readers): Are you a thinker or a doer? Is that a good thing?

getting things done, writing | 8 Comments »

I have spent a lot of time studying how to be more productive. The latest in Geek Chic is the system of getting things done called, interestingly, Getting Things Done…or GTD for short. If it is you struggle with staying organized in your professional or personal lives, then I would recommend looking into it. You can read an introduction to the GTD methodology here.

Now, just because I have spent a lot of time studying productivity doesn’t mean I am a productive person. It is sort of like a geologist. I am no closer to being productive than a geologist is to being a rock. But one of my key procrastination strategies is to spend a lot of time learning about how not to procrastinate. That is why I have become so good at not writing my novel.

But I came across an interesting strategy that might come in handy, especially for those that like to make New Year’s Resolutions. You can read the entire article here: lifehacker.com.

In it, we read about a technique Jerry Seinfeld uses to motivate himself to write everyday. He takes a big wall calendar and a red magic marker. He commits himself to writing every day and when he does, he then marks the calendar with a red X. After a few days of this, he has begun creating a chain of these X’s. This now becomes his motivation to keep the chain going. The whole point of this exercise is to not break the chain.

It is is such a simple, beautiful visual representation of keeping you consistent. That is the one area where I fall apart…CONSTANTLY. I have consistency for a brief period of time and I fizzle fairly quickly.

I can see how this can be helpful for so many of the New Year’s Resolutions I am sure we are all making. In addition to helping maintain consistent writing, it might be used for exercising, reading and dieting to name a few. I can even see it being used as a negative reinforcement. For example, you could put a red X for days that you go without watching TV. I could use it to put a red X for every day I don’t swear at my Baby Goats.

Anyway, simple, little “tricks” like this can be a useful tool to not only jump start a new habit, but may also be useful to sustain you when you you inevitably hit a slump.

My only mod to this system is that I won’t need to buy a Year-at-a-Glance calendar. I can just tear out January from the calendar and hang that on the wall because if I can maintain over 14 days of consistency, I would be shocked!

Question for BoMR: Whether or not you have a New Year’s resolution, what techniques do you use to maintain consistency in your life? 

getting things done | 9 Comments »