by jayhathaway on March 10, 2010
There’s a famous quotation, attributed to Voltaire, that goes “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” I couldn’t agree more. One of the biggest obstacles to getting something done well, or done at all, is trying to get it done perfectly.
If you’re struggling to overcome your own perfectionist impulses, you might be interested in The Cult of Done Manifesto. Don’t worry, it’s not some 700-page manuscript. It’s a list of simple principles put together by noted gadget-maker and electronics hacker Bre Pettis (along with Kio Stark).
The coolest part? They wrote it in just 20 minutes.
Here’s what’s in the Cult of Done Manifesto:
- There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
- Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
- There is no editing stage.
- Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.
- Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
- The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
- Once you’re done you can throw it away.
- Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.
- People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
- Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
- Destruction is a variant of done.
- If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
- Done is the engine of more.
For my money, the crucial part of the Manifesto is “Laugh at perfection.” Getting through something and making mistakes is often the best, and most interesting, way to get something done. The result might not be perfect, but at least you have something you can start editing, instead of a blank page. Just don’t start editing it until a version of it is … well, done.
“Okay, but this won’t work for me,” you say, “Because my job demands perfection. I’m not allowed to make mistakes.” That’s a fair point, but I’d bet that turning things in on time is also expected at your job. If all perfection gets you is a blank page and a headache about deadlines, it might be time to try a different approach.
What are your thoughts on the Cult of Done Manifesto?
Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He blogs about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to The Morning News, among others. You can also find him on Twitter.
by jayhathaway on March 6, 2010
Even when you’re totally satisfied with your job, you’ll occasionally run into a task that you just. don’t. want. to. do. For lack of a better word, this task sucks.
You can get through it and make it less painful, though. And once you do, you’ll be able to move on to the stuff you enjoy doing, and ultimately be more productive.
Here are a few ways to attack tasks you hate:
Get Rid of It
The first, fastest, and most direct way to deal with an unpleasant task is to drop it entirely. Ask yourself whether you can delegate it to someone who would find it easier or less painful. Ask whether there’s a way to get the result you want without doing the task at all. If the answer to either of these is “yes,” you win before you even start!
Make It More Fun
Set a timer and try to finish in a quick burst. Relocate to a coffee shop, a restaurant with wifi, or even a pub (I won’t say I haven’t had a beer or two during a work crisis). Try putting on some great music that’ll get you pumped up to work. Basically, distract yourself from how much you hate the work at hand. Remember that you’ll get to move on to something better once you’re finished.
Just Do It
Sometimes, there’s no way to sugarcoat a bitter pill of a work assignment. When you can’t get out of doing it or make it easier in some way, you’re only left with one option: do the best you can on this lame task. It’ll probably take you more time to grouse and complain about the task than it will to do a great job and knock it out of the park. You may as well go for the option you can be proud of.
Notice I didn’t say anywhere in this post that you should put up with unacceptable or inappropriate work assignments. There’s a difference between a legitimate task that you happen not to like and a task that asks unreasonable things of you. Know where you draw your personal line.
Did you beat any tough assignments this week? How did you do it?
Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He blogs about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to The Morning News, among others. You can also find him on Twitter.
Photo credit – piez
by jayhathaway on March 4, 2010
Here’s the tough lesson I learned this week: with any regular project (especially a blog), it’s always a very, very good idea to have a buffer. Having a few extra posts in your back pocket for a rainy day could really save your butt if you need to take an unexpected break. That’s what happened to me, when a family emergency came up and forced me to let my writing work slide a little bit.
Here are some strategies for building a buffer without an enormous amount of effort, so you can avoid being like me:
Capture Everything
I know I’ve extolled the many virtues of ubiquitous capture in a previous Task Blog post, but the ideas you write down now could turn into brilliant posts later. When you have a little extra time to get ahead in your work, you won’t have to look any further than your capture device of choice, be it paper, smartphone or other.
Rely on a Friend
Soliciting guest contributions, or making sure you know a handful of talented people who might be able to step in for you in a pinch, is a great contingency plan. It’s the work equivalent of giving a spare set of housekeys to a trusted neighbor. When you find yourself locked out, you can go to plan B and ask for help. Helping goes both ways: letting someone fill in for you might give him or her additional exposure or some new work for a portfolio.
Collect Previous Work (in a useful way, of course!)
Everyone hates to see old work passed off as new, but you can score a real coup if you collect your old work in a new and valuable way. Gather up everything you’ve written on a specific topic, and put it in one useful place. Revisit something you’ve previously covered, and provide an update. A little work goes a long way
Resort to Honest Filler
I understand that we all take a certain amount of pride in our work, and it’s a shame to fall back on filler. If you’re honest about it, though, your bosses, readers, or clients should understand. Explain the situation candidly, and show that you care about the deadline by filling in with drafts, outlines, sketches, links to relevant resources … just make an effort and make it interesting, even if it’s no substitute for your best work.
If had employed some of these strategies, this post wouldn’t be late, even though I couldn’t have predicted the circumstances that caused the delay. Although it’s a couple of days late, I the experience has made me much wiser on the subject of buffers.
Do you have a buffer? How did you go about building it? If you don’t have one, why not?
Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He blogs about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to The Morning News, among others. You can also find him on Twitter.
photo credit — splityarn
by jayhathaway on February 27, 2010
[If you like this post, check out Anthony's earlier Task Blog post, "My iPhone's Putting Me to Sleep."]
Sometimes, there’s no better source of motivation than a new toy. Sure, some people buy new iPods and workout clothes and never go running, or buy a new guitar and never play it, but the toy I’m talking about is a little bit different: it’s an iPhone app called Sleep Cycle.
Sleep Cycle uses the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer to detect movement while you’re sleeping, so it can wake you up during the lightest part of your sleep cycle (within half an hour of when you set your alarm, anyway). This is supposed to be as refreshing as waking up without an alarm.
Here’s how Sleep Cycle works: Just turn on the app, set the alarm, and put your phone upside down on the corner of your mattress. Fortunately, the alarm sounds are all more pleasant than anything that comes standard on the iPhone (my favorite is an adaptation of Erik Satie’s famous piano compositions, the Gymnopédies), and they’re not too startling, even at full volume.
Although Sleep Cycle can be tricky to set up, there’s a test mode, where the app makes a sound every time your phone moves. It only took me about two minutes to set up. I definitely recommend plugging your phone in while Sleep Cycle is running, because it drains a lot of battery overnight, and you don’t want to wake up to a dead phone.
Does Sleep Cycle actually work? I have no idea! At the very least, though, it’s a powerful placebo effect. I’ve slept on a regular schedule for the past week, largely because I was excited about using Sleep Cycle. It’s hard to say whether I feel better because I’ve been sleeping regularly, or because Sleep Cycle really does wake me up at the perfect time. Regardless, the positive effects are there, and sleeping at consistent hours has given structure to my entire week.
Plus, it’s fun to wake up in the morning and look at a graph of your nighttime tossing and turning.
Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He blogs about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to The Morning News, among others. You can also find him on Twitter.
Photo credit – luchilu
