Sometimes I Take on Too Much and Then Screw Up

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Let’s get one thing straight: we all make mistakes, whether it’s in our creative work or at our Day Jobs.  If you think otherwise, you’re living on another planet.

For me, the vast majority of my screwups happen because I take on too much and rush through things.

This wasn’t always the case—when I was younger most of my screwups happened because I was inexperienced, or because I wasn’t organized enough and forgot appointments or deadlines.  I improved the former issue by getting better at things I wanted to do well, and solved the latter by implementing a To-List system that’s served me well for the past nine or so years.

Now, though, I notice a different kind of problem: because I have so much going on, and so much of it coming from different directions, I tend to rush through some tasks so I’ll have more time Continue reading »

Stay-at-Home COVID-19 Creative Work Schedule!

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If you’ve read my earlier posts on Coronavirus in Japan, you may recall that cases here have progressed more slowly than in the States, and there haven’t been nearly as many.  Schools have been almost entirely closed since early March, and they’re slated to stay closed until the end of May at least.  In Toyama, most businesses are still open, albeit with limited hours and fewer customers, and most people seem to be practicing safe social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand sanitizing.

I too have been working from home since early April, and have started to understand what my friends and family back home are dealing with.  Not leaving your house…kind of sucks, especially when your house is a three-room apartment and you spend most of your day sitting on a tatami mat floor. Continue reading »

Sometimes I Procrastinate by Doing Something Productive

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I’ve been really busy for the last, I don’t know, seven or so years, and I’ve been trying to pin down why.  I’ve identified a few different factors that lead to my constant scrambling, which, in no particular order, are…

  1. Wasting time on social media/texting/phone checking when I should be getting shit done
  2. Taking on too many projects
  3. Keeping my schedule intentionally full so I can harness the extra energy that comes from being productive

Number 1 is clearly terrible and I’m actively trying to eradicate any lingering control that social media and my phone have over my time, while Number 2 is a mixed blessing, since more projects = more opportunities.  Number 3, though, can be pretty beneficial, since I feel better and more productive when I’m busy instead of bored. Continue reading »

When You’re Busy, You Get More Done

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This week’s post is going to seem obvious, but it’s actually worth some thought.

Last week I had a few things to do, but not too much—my To-Do list was nice and short with no looming deadlines and plenty of time to work on long-term projects.  As a result, I took my evenings at a slower pace, didn’t work any late nights, and read a few hundred pages of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden (a badass novel full of savage beatings and do-it-yourself abortions that makes The Grapes of Wrath look like a kids book).

It was a pretty chill week, and as it went on I found myself taking longer breaks, scrolling through more social media, and just plain staring into space when I could have been working—or at least doing something I enjoyed. Continue reading »

Whiteboard Visual Organizers Are Awesome: Part 2

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Last week I wrote about my new whiteboard organizational system and how it’s helped me divide my goals, projects, and daily life habits into different categories so I can keep track of what I’m working on.  In addition, by giving each category a rating from 1 to 10, I can easily see how well I’m doing in each category, and what needs improving.

The categories I made are going to look different than the categories you might be thinking about for your own goals and projects.  Several of mine are Japan-specific, and a few are specific to my goals as a writer.  I’m listing them here so you can get an idea of what I’m trying to improve in my own life, but also so you might get some ideas for how to sort your own future goals.  In no particular order: Continue reading »

Whiteboard Visual Organizers Are Awesome: Part 1

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Organizing your shit is hard.  I don’t mean your physical shit like papers or clothes or books, which I tend to do a pretty good job keeping track of—I’m talking about organizing your ideas.

Organizing my ideas is hard because there’s a lot of things I’m trying to keep track of on any given day, week, month, or year, ranging from big-picture shit like how in God’s name I’m going to get my writing out into the world to little things like remembering to get a haircut.  If ideas were physical objects I could see, line up, and sort using a predetermined system, I’d have an easier time dealing with them, but because ideas are non-visual and frustratingly ephemeral, I’m prone to forgetting them or not knowing how to bring them to fruition (lame…).

Writing my goals and tasks down on paper so I can visualize them has been a HUGE help to me over the years—I started keeping schedule books back in 2011 and never looked back.  More recently, though, I realized that I was still having trouble keeping track of the dozens, if not HUNDREDS of things I want to do, Continue reading »

Don’t Reach for Your Phone When You Have a Few Minutes to Kill

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Earlier this month the Japanese emperor stepped down and abdicated, beginning a new era in the Japanese calendar (Reiwa) and giving everyone in Japan a ten-day Golden Week vacation.  So that was awesome.

I spent four of those vacation days working at home, one of those days relaxing, and five of those days traveling, first over the Tateyama Alpine Route through the Northern Japanese Alps, then to visit friends in Yamanashi, and finally a stopover in Tokyo to visit another friend and enjoy some sweet Japanese Taco Bell (which was of far higher quality than its American counterpart).

It was a super-fun trip that also involved a LOT of waiting, first in the massive lines for cable cars up the mountain, then on the local trains, then waiting for friends.  I’d downloaded a week’s worth of podcasts and packed my e-reader in preparation, but more often than not I found myself reaching for my phone to mindlessly scroll through social media, which I realized I’m fucking sick of doing. Continue reading »

Sometimes I Don’t Finish Everything, and That’s OK

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Yesterday was Sunday, and as usual I started the day by laying out everything I needed to do.  I’d fallen behind on my Japanese studying the week before, and in addition to being a big 日本語 catchup day, I also had some cleaning to take care of.  My plan of attack in order from start to finish looked like this:

  • Finish Japanese Kanji Lesson
  • Practice all Japanese vocab
  • Finish Japanese Speaking Lesson
  • Schedule Blog Post
  • Reply to Important Email
  • Respond to all Texts
  • Clean Shower and Sink
  • Glue Bedframe
  • Clean Out Closet
  • Go Grocery Shopping
  • Work on Story/Poetry Reading for Lit Mag

I decided to start with Japanese studying because it was the most mentally intensive task for the day, and because I wanted to Continue reading »

Here’s What I’m Working on RIGHT NOW (Spring Edition)

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Hey all—this week has me caught in the middle of a mad cluster of deadlines, events, and a bunch of other things happening at once (lame…).  April’s also the start of the new school year in Japan, and the start of cherry blossom season, so I’ve been trying to make time for a bit of hanami as well…

With that in mind, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been spending my time on lately.  Some of it, like the TEFL class, have strict deadlines I don’t want to fuck around with, but most everything else is self-motivated as I try to get caught up after losing a lot of time in 2018.

In no particular order, I’ve been Continue reading »

Don’t Just Say “I’m Too Busy”

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I’ll try to keep this one brief, since I’ve got stuff to do today.

I don’t like saying “I’m too busy” when someone invites me to something or asks me for a favor.  It feels like a copout—because in a lot of ways, it is.

If have a chance to pick up a new editing job or write something or even just go out for drinks with friends, I try to think about the other things I’m currently juggling in comparison to this new opportunity.  Do I really want to do this new thing, or would I rather focus on what I’m already working on? Continue reading »

New Daily Day Job-Free Work Schedule!

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I haven’t been to work in two weeks…and it feels awesome.

For those of you who missed the news, last month I got accepted for an English teaching job in Japan and quit my Secret Office Day Job—partly to focus more on creative work and partly because some sketchy shit was going on there.  This means that for the next few months my time is my own, and I’ve got to use it wisely if I want to make any real writing progress.

I left work on a Wednesday, which felt a bit disorienting—I went from spending 47+ hours of my week working, commuting, and eating lunch in the company break room to having a three-month chasm of free time ahead of me…and I won’t lie, it felt a bit overwhelming.

For the first two days I was kind of all over the place—I slept late, watched a bunch of Netflix, got a haircut, took a long walk, and Continue reading »

To-Do List Advice: One Really Big Thing is Better Than Ten Little Things

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I had a friend in college who used to get really stressed out.  He was pretty much a nervous wreck most days because he was always dashing between these huge projects (mostly art projects, but also stuff for his other classes) that required him to work in different studios across campus.  Sometimes he forgot to eat, went for days without sleeping, and more than once found himself in trouble because he forgot to turn in his registration paperwork.

I remember one time when he was on the verge of what may have been a panic attack, he said, in a moment of pristine clarity, something I’ve never been able to forget:

“I’d rather have one HUGE project to work on than ten smaller projects, even if the ten smaller projects together took less time to finish than the big project.”
Continue reading »