Aside from my missionary days in Portugal, I don’t think I’ve ever worked this hard before. I’m working 55-hour weeks at work these days and spending about 95% of my time at home working on some project. Yesterday, for the first time in months, I took a few hours off to unwind in front of the boob-tube, and with all the new season premiers starting, my Thursday-night excuse to not work has returned…Survivor and CSI, Las Vegas. Soon, Lost will come back to sabatage my Wednesday nights, and eventually 24 will return to knock out Monday nights. Yeah, I’ll admit it…. there are some really addicting shows on these days. I actually really LOVE the off-season (summer) just so I can remain productive from night to night.
Productivity, however, seems to be a challenge for me lately. Oh, I'm plenty busy alright, but it's what I'm busy doing that is the problem. I'll explain.
Productivity, however, seems to be a challenge for me lately. Oh, I'm plenty busy alright, but it's what I'm busy doing that is the problem. I'll explain.
While it’s important to stay connected to my clients through email, I find that I spend a lot more time CHECKING my email for correspondence than I really need to. While doing research on Google for images relating to logo or other graphic design jobs, I often find myself getting distracted by all there is to see on the web. The web isn’t to blame…I'm just a naturally curious guy. I was the same way as a kid with encyclopedias. I would open one to find out about something in particular, and end up spending hours (literally) just reading adjacent subjects that had little or nothing to do with my initial search. I spin my wheels a lot doing things that don’t really need doing. I mean, they're good things to do, but they’re not exactly moving my business forward.
For example, one of my very favorite things to “work” on is the look of my website. Just having a website should be sufficient. However, I find myself tinkering on it all the time. Sure I look like I’m working, and I’m even doing things for Tyed Art, Inc. However, they’re not things that need to be done in order to be productive. Some time ago I noticed something that Google does every once in a while with their home page. I really like it and have tried to imitate it with my own style. For applicable months, I try to create some adaptation of my company logo to the corresponding holiday of that month on my homepage. Spiders and pumpkins for October, four-leaf clovers for March, hearts for February, etc...
For instance, December features a Tyed Art, Inc. logo where the blue image has a Santa hat on it. Another has a glowing red-nosed center with antlers imitating a reindeer. December has a lot of possible iconic symbols to select from so I have done several of these holiday-adapted logo images and I change them out once a week or so. I rationalize this time-consuming hobby by tell myself that I do this so my clients will revisit my website. They’ll come to expect that this is a “living” website. In other words a site that is attended to, cared for, and updated regularly. This creates curiosity in the visitor and a desire to return in anticipation of “what’s next?” Sounds good, right? Even logical. I learned this little trick at a free seminar I went to a few years ago here in Vegas. While it’s fun for me, and cool for them, it presents a big problem. The problem is that this type of “work” is not really doing anything for my bottom line. I don’t get paid for it, and its really time consuming. In reality, it’s actually taking me away from doing things that would otherwise contribute to my bottom line. And this is only one example of this type of non-productive "work" that I do.
In one of my favorite books, “The War Of Art,” Steven Pressfield defines RESISTANCE as anything that keeps one from achieving long-term growth, health or integrity. That’s a gross over simplification, but it serves my point. In my case, I’m trying to help LittleLDS, my small insignificant product brand become independent. I want it to take root in the market, and become self-sustaining, and profitable. I want it to eventually even actively and significantly participate in my retirement. I’m counting on it. I’m vested in it. The bottom line, then (i.e., the eventual success or failure of LittleLDS) really matters. Where LittleLDS in concerned, it’s ALL that matters. That having been said, I can’t really afford to be messing around with the cosmetics of my website during my few available working hours!
Although it generates income, designing logos and other graphic design has become a major obstacle in my path to success where LittleLDS is concerned. It’s a total catch 22 though. LittleLDS needs the capital for marketing, production costs, and further development, but monopolizing my time with logo work hinders my ability to dedicate time to work on furthering LittleLDS. In short, and to paraphrase Robert Kiyosaki’s description of guys like me, I’m so busy, that I don’t have any time to be productive! For a guy with as little time as I seem to have, this is a HUGE problem.
For example, one of my very favorite things to “work” on is the look of my website. Just having a website should be sufficient. However, I find myself tinkering on it all the time. Sure I look like I’m working, and I’m even doing things for Tyed Art, Inc. However, they’re not things that need to be done in order to be productive. Some time ago I noticed something that Google does every once in a while with their home page. I really like it and have tried to imitate it with my own style. For applicable months, I try to create some adaptation of my company logo to the corresponding holiday of that month on my homepage. Spiders and pumpkins for October, four-leaf clovers for March, hearts for February, etc...
For instance, December features a Tyed Art, Inc. logo where the blue image has a Santa hat on it. Another has a glowing red-nosed center with antlers imitating a reindeer. December has a lot of possible iconic symbols to select from so I have done several of these holiday-adapted logo images and I change them out once a week or so. I rationalize this time-consuming hobby by tell myself that I do this so my clients will revisit my website. They’ll come to expect that this is a “living” website. In other words a site that is attended to, cared for, and updated regularly. This creates curiosity in the visitor and a desire to return in anticipation of “what’s next?” Sounds good, right? Even logical. I learned this little trick at a free seminar I went to a few years ago here in Vegas. While it’s fun for me, and cool for them, it presents a big problem. The problem is that this type of “work” is not really doing anything for my bottom line. I don’t get paid for it, and its really time consuming. In reality, it’s actually taking me away from doing things that would otherwise contribute to my bottom line. And this is only one example of this type of non-productive "work" that I do.
In one of my favorite books, “The War Of Art,” Steven Pressfield defines RESISTANCE as anything that keeps one from achieving long-term growth, health or integrity. That’s a gross over simplification, but it serves my point. In my case, I’m trying to help LittleLDS, my small insignificant product brand become independent. I want it to take root in the market, and become self-sustaining, and profitable. I want it to eventually even actively and significantly participate in my retirement. I’m counting on it. I’m vested in it. The bottom line, then (i.e., the eventual success or failure of LittleLDS) really matters. Where LittleLDS in concerned, it’s ALL that matters. That having been said, I can’t really afford to be messing around with the cosmetics of my website during my few available working hours!
Although it generates income, designing logos and other graphic design has become a major obstacle in my path to success where LittleLDS is concerned. It’s a total catch 22 though. LittleLDS needs the capital for marketing, production costs, and further development, but monopolizing my time with logo work hinders my ability to dedicate time to work on furthering LittleLDS. In short, and to paraphrase Robert Kiyosaki’s description of guys like me, I’m so busy, that I don’t have any time to be productive! For a guy with as little time as I seem to have, this is a HUGE problem.
The solution, as my wise bride has reminded me, is to go into the office with a planned objective. “Don’t go in there just to work,” she advises, “…go in there knowing what you want to have accomplished by the time you come out tonight.” She couldn't be more right. Needless to say, I’m still working on it.
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