I'm someone who often finds the present to be an annoyance. Other than when I'm creating, learning, or talking with someone I care about, I prefer analyzing the past and planning for the future more than being present. I'm of course doing so in the present per se, but not being 'present' during these acts.
The present, with its interruptions and unpredictability can make this tricky and I do like to be productive. It is, however, hard to be productive or in deep thought when emails, texts, and calls are popping up and the day's needs wrest precedent from interesting thoughts.
How, then, have I managed to work around this challenge?
By writing down things I need to do in future presents when I have time to plan for them during moments of clarity (usually the work days' ends or Sunday nights).
On any given day I have a to-do list and within those things to-do I have notes and/or outlines. This way, I have my marching orders on what I have to get done and can effectively act as my own task master with minimal thought involved. I serve as a sort of worker drone of my own creation.
This doesn't work well if I need to learn something new or speak to someone one-on-one (two things I enjoy doing) but it allows me to complete about 90% of my days while I think of other things that are more interesting than the mundane and disordered present.
I did not begin organizing my work life in this way consciously, realizing only recently the habit. I had not long ago learned that not everyone has an 'internal monologue' of words and ideas going through their mind all day. It's interesting to learn how people think, even if that person is yourself.
Looking back, I began this habit when I was learning to make iPhone apps. I had read that computer programmers in the USSR were so effective because they had such limited access to computers. This may sound counterintuitive, but these engineers found a solution. If they could become good enough to write out their programs by hand and ensure that they would compile (or do so with minimal debugging) they could make the most of their minimal computer time. The end result was that engineers developed a level of skill and thoroughness in thought that modern developers like myself could only dream of.
However, I began to use this tactic to both make the most of my limited concentration on some days and become a far better developer. Instead of plugging in some code mindlessly and wondering if it would run, I had to know it was going to work as intended. My to-do lists today are my non-engineering version of this tactic and they make my productive hours more productive without me needing to be completely present.
Anyway, enough for now, back to plans for the future and considerations of things and people past.
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