Well...I ALMOST got caught up on everything from Australia, but then two days of Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) spent in synagogue made this past weekend jam-packed with catch-up work.
On Saturday, on top of having to put the final touches on demo videos and PDF docs for a pair of new TV shows we have in development for CBC, I had to deal with over 100 emails, a dozen bills to pay, and a stack of to-read magazines that has somehow grown to over 18-inches high (sadly, no exaggeration; that's it above).
Yeah, to put it lightly, I wasn't just overwhelmed, I was fucking overwhelmed.
Now I'm no laggard. I have To-Do lists up the wazoo, and am a disciple of David Allen and his "Getting Things Done" tribe/religion of hyper-efficiency.
But still. I was, let's say it again, fucking overwhelmed.
So, what did I do?
I ignored everything in front of me...and went to fix a door in my house instead.
Yeah...I fixed a door. Not the most herculean task, but I had to re-install a horizontal slat of wood that divided panes of glass on a French Door. Now I'm no Mike Holmes, but after 20 minutes of dabbling with contact cement, a pile of clothes and a copy of the massive Kisstory book (didn't want to take the door off, so I piled the clothes and the book to act as a leverage/weight to keep the slat level and pressed to the glass in the proper spot), the job was done.
And I felt great.
And I was able to tackle the work with new energy and insight.
For I came back to it with a win; a small win, no doubt, but a win nonetheless.
So here was this week's lesson:
- When I go to the gym for a TRX or RipTrainer workout, I warm up first with a few minutes on a bike or elliptical machine.
- When I play hockey, I warm up with a series of stretches, twists, skating drills and shots.
In other words, I get my physical body warmed up before delving into the activity.
So, when faced with mental challenges (no jokes here, folks!) like video editing, proposal-writing, decision-making and reading, it's probably not advisable to "go in cold" either.
The fixing of the door, and the questions I had to answer--How can I do this without removing the door from its hinges? How would I keep the slat in place? Where's the optimum spot for the glue?--got my mind warmed-up for the tasks ahead. The "win" made it even better; it even further leveraged the "got to get into the game" mode.
The end result?
- Emails have been answered.
- Bills have been paid.
- Documents have been composed.
- Videos have been reviewed, and edits suggested.
- Blog post has been written.
And now, to tackle those rabbit-like magazines.