Working from Home for Neurotic Space Cadets

Right now, I’m sitting on my favorite chair on my balcony. The sidewalks are laughing and the traffic is anxious. In about an hour, I’m going to get a call from my roommates asking me to go out. I might. I’m writing down tomorrows to-do list, and putting my agenda on paper (that flat stuff we used before outlook). Today is one of the rare days I’m actually content with my productivity. It seems to me the volume of things I’ve accomplished has little correlation to how I actually feel about the day. I don’t see that changing any time soon, but I work on it. Today was a victory.

I’m distracted. Always. I fall into the sick trap of feeling like I’m getting a lot done when I’m just keeping myself busy. As long as I can remember, I’ve been that way. As long as I can remember, I’ve been eager to handle the thing that’s right in front of my face. Depending on what direction you’re facing, this gets pretty hamster-in-the-wheelhouse. This past year, I’ve shifted focus from checking boxes to finding the biggest, best box and handling that. There’s no use picking what shirts I’m packing to Paris when I haven’t gotten my passport yet.

I go through my days addressing my problems as if they belong in one of two buckets: poor systems and poor execution. Essentially, was I set up to fail, or did I just not follow through on a good plan? Or both? That’s where the paper came from. I was on my phone looking at my to do list app that was two swipes and a tap from instagram and one tap from calling that friend I saw the other day. Not exactly a haven of productivity for a kid who can’t remember what he was about to make for lunch. Poor system. So we like paper in this house. Recently I woke up and looked at my list and went wakesurfing. Poor execution.

The most challenging part about making something in your own home is attaining deep focus. Note I didn’t say “one of the most challenging things”. I said the most. Home is a place you’re supposed to feel safe and relax. Creative work is neither. I have roommates, chores, hanger, & sleep deprivation as much as the next guy, and none of those things are conducive to sitting down and cranking out a blog post or color grading a wedding film, but lately I’ve been pretty happy with the things I’ve gotten done. The secret (read: very obvious fix) to my boost in productivity was system management. Am I setting myself up to fail, or am I choosing to fail? Either way, knock it off.

Now I’m linking a video I made a couple months ago in a furious procrastination fit to avoid taking my laundry out of the dryer.