I will start this blog entry by saying that I am the King of Procrastination! If they gave out badges for the top procrastinator in the world I would be the sole owner of said badge. It is horrible!
I will also say there is not a whole lot of tech in this one. Mostly a life evaluation. So, back to how much I procrastinate…
I will say this…I was not always this way. I was a horrible procrastinator in school. That is probably the reason I am currently trying to finish up my BS instead of wrapping it up 7 years ago when all of my friends finished. Then I moved overseas and lived in the desert for 5 years and while I was there I was ON TOP OF MY GAME! I did not procrastinate! I woke up every morning bright eyed and ready to take over the world. I was blowing though projects and worked like a champ. Then…then I moved back to the States….
Procrastination note – I have found myself texting/facebooking/tweeting and checking my Google Reader about 5 times since I started writing this blog entry. I got it bad.
I have been back in the States for about 2 years and 4 months at this point. When I first returned home I was still super motivated but as time passed things got worse and worse. The weird thing is that it is definitely being home that is dragging me down.
I went back overseas for the summer of 2010 and found my motivation again. I was working 14 hour days 7 days a week designing and deploying a gateway/gatekeeper network to connect a few countries and all of the main cities contained therein. I had a two other engineers with me and we knocked it out in about 60 days. Worked like a charm! I spent the last 30 days designing the QoS architecture for the new MPLS network that was being implemented in the country also. Oh, and I also turned up a Nortel CS1000 for good measure. We also designed deployment guides for all of the Call Manager clusters in the region and training materials. It was a fun gig.
I returned to NOLA around mid-August 2010 and was motivated for a few months but then it died off again. I fell into the groove and that was it. It was hard to maintain the motivation. I noticed that you are affected by the people around you. When I was overseas we were all supercharged! Everyone fed off of everyone else’s energy. The same thing is happening here except it is the opposite effect. I have let my studies go, let my health go, screwed up some relationships with old friends and, to be honest, there is no reason for it. All this got me thinking…
WHAT HAPPENED?!
Why can I not be super motivated here at home? Why can I not be the guy that pulls up everyone around me? Show them how to get the energy so we can all feed off one another in appositive fashion. Supercharge my people so we can overcome the funk and KNOCK SHIT OUT! After a lot of contemplation I released that I CAN be that person. I WILL supercharge my people. I WILL lead from the front and lean forward. I WILL NOT let the downers get to me. I WILL meet this challenge head on and power through.
So, how do I go about doing all of this? I have to get my shit together so I can get back in the saddle and get everyone else on board. While reading around on the subject of motivation and procrastination I stumbled upon “The Guide to Un-Procrastination” (HERE). It is a short read but is packed with some good tips. After giving it a few reads I decided the first step I needed to take was to “unclutter” my life. As a nerd I have a lot of distractions. Here are some things I am to clear out my life:
- Turned off cable. (Netflix and HULU+ for when I do want to catch up on something)
- Started taking the train more.
- Cleared of my desk.
- Created a dedicating working space in my home.
- Installed web usage monitors that block FB/Twitter/Reader after using them for over 5 minutes a day. (you would be surprised how much this helps)
- Started sleeping. After getting pneumonia from not sleeping all through Cisco Partner Summit and Mardi Gras I learned that rest is good!
- Started going into the office early so I can knock things out before others arrive.
- Began putting exercise back into my life. (I am 6’5″. When I played Rugby at the University of Southern Mississippi I was 265-280 pounds. I am now at a whopping ~355 pounds. Not good sports fans.)
- I do not work on anything without a ticket open in front of me to track my time. It keeps you tied to the moment and keeps you focused. PS: I love ConnectWise!
- I have decided to start blogging more. Let me people know my plans and intentions. Sharing is caring ya know!
I also think the availability of booze is an issue. While I was overseas you had to go WAY out of the way to get booze. Here they deliver it to my house. I am not saying that booze is bad. I live in NOLA so it is part of daily life. I am just saying that maybe I should use it as a reward like I used to when I was away. You mix me with a bottle of Sailor Jerry and you will see a whole lot of nothing take place. LOTS OF NOTHING!!!
Procrastination note – I have found myself texting/facebooking AGAIN!
Here is another issue:
A wise woman once asked me, “Jesus Christ Tiny! How the hell do you fit your ego in this house?” My usual response would be to bring her attention to the 14 foot ceilings and open spaces but she has a valid point. Since my return I have let my ego go unchecked and I feel that is causing issues with my studying. While I was overseas I had to stay on top of my studies to make sure I was the most shit hot guy around. Now I feel like I do not have to do that and that is WRONG! I am working on the humility. I know some people do not believe it but I am. It takes time to break habits. Less talking, more listening. That is the first step. I once heard someone say, “Ego inhibits innovation!” and it is the truth. Once you think you are the baddest kid on the block you stop trying. I do not know why I started acting this way. I think I was always like this but I had great guys around me that acted the same way and we would knock each other down, hard, from time to time to keep each other in check. Without them around shit has just grown out of control. Time to try and take it down a notch!
As you can see it would seem as if I have a lot to work on but I think it will all work out nicely. Once I get a few things rolling everything else will fall in place. Basically it comes down to two thing:
- Get in shape
- Get my numbers!
If I focus on those two things the rest will start to come together. I KNOW IT!
Thanks for hanging out this long. I promise we will be back to the tech shortly!
Dan
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