Time to Stop Wasting Time, A blunt confession & request for advice

Leif, I'd like to interject that it may be there are more ways than one to work well. As we've discussed, the enneagram shows us that there are at least nine ways of being in this world.

Some folks require and can easily use a lot of structure in their day. Others work best without it.

One of my best friends is a 7 (as I suspect you are...creative, visionary, social butterfly), and I spend a great deal of time with her almost daily. And I see firsthand how the best way for her to work is to go with the flow of what's easiest and most indicated in the moment.

I share this because I think our culture gives the impression that we are all (or should be all) 1s and 3s, who can be very structured and dedicated and just bust out the work, whether on the official clock or not. And thinking we all have to be that way can produce a lot of shame for the rest of us who don't organically function that way.

Just some food for thought.

(If anyone wants to know more about the enneagram and how it can help you understand and love yourself better, not to mention difficult clients, check out my event Know Thyself; Know Thy Client on July 21st.)

Hello to my fellow 7 Leif!

I am also a 7 on the Enneagram and I found out by attending Rachel's event. Then I got the book she recommended and read all about myself. It really helped me make more peace with who I am. I saw that all personality types had positive and negative attributes and no one is perfect. I am more like you-- the social energizer, seeking constant stimulation, childlike curiosity towards life, dreading boredom, impatience etc...

I think that by choosing the right kind of work (which you seem to have) we can bank on these qualities that may make it difficult for us to work in "traditional" work environments fulfilling traditional office roles.

I tend to get lost in task thats fulfill me and procrastinate on things that aren't fun to me. The good news is there are plenty of people who like to do what they couldn't pay me enough for.

We don't have to give up being a 7 (I enjoy it too much!) but we can figure out healthier ways of being us without giving up our authenticity.

Attend Rachel's event if you can, you won't regret it! :) ~banu

That's an awesome success story, Banu!

Thanks so much for sharing it and helping me get the word out that we can all stop shaming ourselves for not doing it "right."

I LOVE that you've so embraced your 7-ness. What a joy. :)

Thank you for introducing this tool to us! If you ever host an "advanced" class or know of one happening, I'd love to explore it further.

Oh my gosh, Leif--so much of my time each day is spent on things that are not on my ToDo List!

Today I got no where near making the bank deposit (on the List) and instead re-set the bricks in the patio walkway (important for safety, but NOT on the List).

I too, have aimed toward the types of plans that you mention. No use.

I flit. That's how I am. I will get up and go do something else two or three times just during composing this comment ...

So what I have ended up doing is trying to stay ultra clear about my Big Picture and measure my daily doings against that, not against my programmed beliefs about what is productive (a/k/a, not wasting time).

I guess it is very much like Banu and Rachel share. Seeing who/how I am, and accepting and working with that.

Yeah, feeling bad about who I am and forcing myself into a box I don't belong to makes me even less "productive"! Plus, building relationships IS productive to me but that's not as tangible as some other tasks that our society thinks highly of.

Ah, but being proud of yourself because of what you have done is a slippery slope.

What if you're simply happy with yourself because of being you? And from that centered place (where what you have done during the day cannot touch your sense of self-worth either positively or negatively), you can look at what might be useful in the Big Picture, as Leila describes.

All I'm sayin' here is that I've fallen into the trap of needing my business to succeed in order to feel good about me. It's not a good place to be.

And maybe you're not saying that, exactly...

But I notice that when I'm really grounded in myself and feeling full self-love...everything else just falls into place. And I'm just as happy doing the accounting as I am playing with friends or doing healing work.

And then there is no such thing as a waste of time.

I empathize with you, Leif. That's my biggest problem as well. I am very easily distracted by everything...except work. That I can easily ignore! :) Add the fact that I'm a single, mostly stay-at-home mom to the mix and it takes me 16 hours to do what others can do in 8 hours.

I don't know if this will help you or not, but I've been doing it for a few weeks and it's helped me. I signed up for an account on myhours.com.

When I'm not running the clock, I'm now really, really aware that I am spending time on something I can't bill for (like, my own social networking). In fact, it's nagging at me right this minute!

It's cut the time I spend drifting, staring, eating, checking email, browsing, using Stumble & Twitter, etc down by a lot.

Leif - I feel for you - I can attest to doing the same, at one time or another. I not only found David Allen's "Getting Things Done" book extremely helpful, but now I have "Things," which is the Getting things done system, but on your desktop or mobile device.

I can't tell you how rewarding ti feels to check off a ton of "To-Do's" in one full swoop - it is very gratifying!

I have links on my new web site if you want to check them out - under Free Pie.

I attest that I sometimes have the hurry up and wait for things to come ready. At the moment I am waiting for a call back from the owner of Volcanic Bikes (sold to police, emergency and military). We just finished a phone interview for the Florida Police Journal and we need action shots using Brake Director.

The Bicycle Police in Seattle are unavailable until 9:30 am tomorrow - so I will be driving to Enumclaw to pick up the Volanic Bike with BD this afternoon and then prepare for tomorrow. I am also monitoring the new evolution of our Web Site.

So yes, a few things and add in the video depositions which now has to do a 180 shift in promotion. Busy and waiting, doing and waiting, planning and waiting. That's me this week.

Hey Leif, great topic. Unfortunately, I don't have the time today to comment ;-)

Will try to get back to you on this. Great stuff, so far!

~bob

What I find challenging is determing when enough is enough and being flexible and spontaneous (after all, that's one of the reason I decided to become my own boss... not to mention that is so at the heart of media work where news/newsangles can, and often do, change on a dime). When I worked for others it was in some ways easier. I punched a time clock, put in my time and got paid whether or not I was 100% productive.
Completing 40 hours in someone else's offices is easier to measure than putting in a good day in my own office. There are times when a good day is 8+ hours long and there are times when it's 4 hours spred out over an 8 hour period. Add to the mix a virtual assistant who takes over more and more of the busy work (administrative component) that shortens my work day, and I find there are times when I get confused about what my measurement stick for a full and productive work day is.. Plus in my business there are cycles: fast, almost fast, busy, slow, etc. and I've come to better terms with that, not getting on my case if I can't do everything all of the time (by the way, I relate to Tia's situation... being a mom comes with its own distracting multi-tasking demands). It's been helpful for me to remember that all things are "seasonal" and that maybe "internet surfing" is a way to get a break from the consistent assembly lines of work results we think we have to operate on a daily basis. I generally don't go to the computer until I have had time for personal care (exercise, sometimes important housework/personal errands) and I know that there are many days when an hour at my desk is like two hours in someone else's office... From what I have seen of you, (postings, articles, etc.) Leif, I would suspect you do plenty on a regular basis and probably deserve more "free time" than you think you do. On another note, I'm a happy 6 in the Ennegram and agree that knowing who you are and how you operate do make a difference; especially when you are an entreprenuer/solopreneur. Best to all of you, Karen

Boy, I hear you, Leif. Between my Internet research, dabbling in various social media and my own blog, I can have days where I look up and it's noon and then, zoom, its 5:00.

I, too, keep reminding myself that the payoff will come, but some days...

The only thing that keeps me sane (random creative that I am) is my white board with boxes for check-offs and the to-do list I write at the end of the day for the next day.

Actually, I have gotten into these less structured days and, though I don't always accomplish as much as I hoped, I do feel a deep satisfaction at the end of most days.

My job is more thinking and idea generation and less measured tasks. And Bob usually attends to the details of the business.

Looking back on what I just wrote, it probably didn't help you at all.