Some people will tell you that you
Must prioritize things in your life, put the most important things first on the
list, take care of those first and move on down the list. Yes, it’s a good
idea, on paper. In reality few if any of us have the will power to make that
list and stick to it.
Face it
most of the things on the top of the list are Not going to be fun. In fact, I will go out on a limb and state
here that they are probably closer to the list of things you Hate to do. So,
that means that we either don’t do those things, or we do a couple of them and
then move on to the fun things on that list. Or perhaps you have a whole
different list of fun things you want to do, I know I do.
So, now we
have that fun list in hand and are faced with the overwhelming desire to do all
of them at once. When none of them have to be done, how do you decide which is
first on the list? Is it based on available funds, available materials? The
answer to that is going to be different for each of us of course.
Lately when
it comes to my fun list I seem to have developed a small case of ADHD and as a
consequence I have literally dozens of projects in various stages of work. The shop
is getting changed around, that requires moving some things out of one room an
into another so I can then move things out the second room into the first room,
etc… that seems straight forward enough, but it’s not. As things come out, they
need to go where other things already are, so the moving process takes several
steps. Other items need to just be gone, but they are not trash, they need to
either be photographed and put on one of the marketing sites or I need to find
someone that will at least put them to good use. But in the mean time, all this
is not getting me to any of that fun stuff on the list!
So, Drop
all the moving for now, move on to something fun. There is no lack of projects
on that list. Bowls that were roughed out months ago that are now dry enough to
finish turn, spatulas that were made from the pieces of log that were not right
for making bowls, boxes, darning eggs, chain pulls, bottle stoppers, ring
holders, well you get the idea, there are a lot of things I could be making.
Which leads
to making a decision, any decision… okay, there, grab that piece of wood and start
making whatever it will make.. oh wait, there is already a bowl in the chuck
that needs to be finished before I can do that. Okay, start on that instead,
dang, it’s cracking and needs to be glued… start on that, but that means now I
have to wait for the glue to cure. Yes, it’s super glue so it’s not a long
time, but it’s time. Let it dry and move on to something else while that
happens, makes sense right?
Except now
I’m three items down on the list (not necessarily in order, but three items).
Now this third item does not take a lathe or a chuck, but it does take one of
the tools that is still in the other part of the shop. Great, the tool is open
enough to use, if not completely set up. And we are off down the rabbit hole
again. Might as well make it right before I use it, Pretty soon I’m hours into
the project and have yet to finish any of the items on the list.
Am I making
progress? Yes I am, but that progress seems to be happening in random
directions and few of the projects are completely finished before I move on to
other projects.
Still, I
guess progress is progress and I should take it where I can get it! What does
this say? Lists are good, but how they are prioritized may change from
day-to-day, or even minute-to-minute! But since I’m the one setting those
priorities, I can do that!
Now, it’s
time to get (Squirrel) this blog entry done and put on the site, thank you for
your time to read this rambling and perhaps leave a comment.
