Writing software for 10+ years. Eschew hype; focus on performance.
Living in Switzerland 🇨🇠since 2017.
Writing software for 10+ years. Eschew hype; focus on performance.
Living in Switzerland 🇨🇠since 2017.
My default, and I assume the default of many, when I'm overwhelmed, exhausted, or a task is unclear (which effectively "overwhelms" me), or I simply don't know what to do next, I have a very clear symptom:
Procrastination.
That can show up in many ways, scrolling, watching YT, (God forbid) consuming porn, etc. It no longer shows up as gaming for me, since I lost interest some years ago.
I knew this solution before, but recently it became apparent that it really is quite effective.
The simple solution
Some might call this "planning".
What is a vector? It's energy with a direction.
- A vector is a variable quantity, such as force, that has size and direction.
— Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's Dictionary
In the grand plan of your life, your vectors are where you are trying to move things towards.
Naturally if my attention has nowhere to go, it fixates on shiny things, like social media feeds. So I give my attention something to fixate on that I would like it to fixate on, because I want to improve my life and the life of those around me.
Everybody gets overwhelmed at some point. That's OK.
How quickly can you get back on it? Simply as quickly as you can recognize that you're overwhelmed, and can pick what exactly is next.
"I need to learn DaVinci Resolve for video editing" ... multiple days of procrastination ... "OK I'll just make my next TikTok clip using DaVinci". Gets done same day...
You see initially the next step along the vector of "building a personal brand" was simply too vague. Figuring out exactly the next step makes it actually actionable.
In every scenario it seems it really is about how quickly can I realize that I'm actually overwhelmed and stuck because of that.
"Does it align with my vectors? Yes/No"
That's what I keep in my board, and keeps me focused. Even if I lose focus, this question gets me back on it.
"Oh I wanna do X" — "Does it align with my vectors?"
Very effective. For me at least.