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True words. Ironically, if I hadn’t been wasting some time on Twitter, I wouldn’t have seen this post.
Self-control doesn’t get much airtime these days. It ranks right up there with personal responsibility and doing the right thing. We tend not to like these terms because they place emphasis on our ability, and oftentimes we fail.
I don’t do this often enough, but it’s powerful: work on one thing at a time, and for several hours, and watch productivity sky-rocket. His example reminds of the times I’ve done video-editing projects. It’s the same thing. In order to do the work, you can’t simultaneously be listening to music, watching tv/movies, or anything else. The task forces you to focus.
It’s incredibly easy to lose focus when working in an industry that revolves around the very things we may be trying to avoid. I think of my friend, Shawn Hatfield, who runs a highly regarded mastering studio in Oakland called Audible Oddities. Email, phone and other distractions are off the table while he’s working — he has to listen. Mastering requires his undivided attention in getting his job done and to do it right. Many other professions are similar. Focus. Breathe. Do what you intend to do, and don’t stop until you’re ready to.
So, apparently, MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is a thing. I guess it’s good that something I already try to practice has been designated a formal technique by someone. Regardless, shipping an MVP is hard for many reasons. I even find that once I have the minimum out there, I have trouble shipping the next min piece. I want it to be perfect.
(via Signal vs. Noise)
When I look back at all my startup experiences…, every single one of them could have been shipped much sooner… By far the dominant reason for not releasing sooner was a reluctance to trade the dream of success for the reality of feedback.
At some point yesterday, between waking up feeling ‘meh’, and blaming it on allergies, and finishing my project-kickoff meeting with Chef Lilly, a sickness descended on my body. I didn’t really feel it until the excitement of the meeting wore off and I was able to relax a bit, but I could no longer blame it on allergies: I had a full-blown head-cold.
It became clear that I needed to rest. I’d had about 5 hours of sleep the night before (my own stupidity), but I had hoped to work productively through the afternoon and finish the evening with drinks with friends. My body had other plans.
So, I went home to rest. But here’s the problem:
I suck at the practice of resting.
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