Getting stuff done: The finale
I wrote an article on Getting Stuff Done and I received requests to go into more detail. Responding to those requests I wrote a second article on 3by9 called Getting Things Done: Lacking Discipline? In the first article I talked about organization. In the second article I talked about dealing with things one might not want to do. In the end it comes down to discipline, your outlook on life and your level of commitment to completing the tasks.
On 9rules Notes there is a note asking What do you want to achieve with your blog in 2008? I really didn’t have an answer until today and it ties in with getting things done, doing unpleasant things, etc.
I receive requests often and yesterday I received one that is very challenging: To find a podcast where I talked about blog income.
I can’t find it and I should be able to.
I went through the podcasts on NTG, 9rules, Ping Six, Blog Your Way, BlogTyme, etc. Not there. The only place left: ScrivsTyme - and that’s when my head hit the desk. Scrivs and I were notoriously bad with show notes (Scrivs was 1000x better than I was). Hundreds of hours of audio…that’s a needle in a haystack. It is just a symptom to a bigger problem…one happening on this blog. I can’t find things because URLs are broken, content w/comments are in one CMS, just content is in another…and I just noticed the archives don’t work. I need to fix this once and for all and my goal is to have to done so I don’t start 2008 with this shit.
I just hate doing it. Let me explain why. I was using ExpressionEngine and I loved it, but I had a database issue. I couldn’t import my database when I changed servers. Coming from MovableType I figured I’d do a plain text export/import. I was shocked to find out I couldn’t export the entries to a plain text format. When I inquired about it, I was giving the “you think we are going to make it easy for you to leave?” response and it pissed me off so bad I switched to WordPress. I can’t remember being “that” mad with a company. My trust was 100% gone. Fast forward a couple of years later ExpressionEngine has developed into the platform I am very interested in, one I’ve been waiting patiently for. The majority of my content is in an ExpressionEngine database (although it’s messed up) and most importantly I know ExpressionEngine is the platform that will eventually make it easier for me to accomplish my goals.
The thought of fiddling with entries, dealing with redirects, and heaven help me dealing with a design exhausts my brain. I’m admitting this: I have used the “ExpressionEngine pissed me off” excuse to delay getting it done. However, these are all things I don’t like doing yet I want to get them done before 2008 because I can’t really move forward with the blog until they are done. How are they going to get done?
This is when I pull out the mack-daddy of incentives - rewards. I know my personality - when there is something I detest I have to give myself a boost. I think everyone is like this with “something”. Keep in mind this is a personal site at the moment so I’m having fun with my reward system. I could see myself doing something like this:
Goal: Get all entries in ExpressionEngine.
Reward: Don’t touch it again until I am two levels higher in World of Warcraft (current rate of leveling one or two days, three max).
Goal: Find dead links and fix the internal ones. Make private the posts that are obsolete.
Reward: Dance it up at the club.
Goal: Fix the redirects (this is a huge task because I changed content management systems).
Reward: Celebration topped with hours and hours of mind-blowing sex.
The key is the rewards, it has to be something you really want otherwise the goal won’t be completed. In honesty, I always want mind-blowing sex (who doesn’t?) but on that occasion I’d do something special so it’s not like all the other times I have mind-blowing sex. If I dance it up at a club perhaps it will be a club I always wanted to go to but never have. See the difference?
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