I had no idea how much my office was stressing me out. I have always been one who had stacks of stuff all around everywhere, but if I needed to find something I knew where was. Little did I know that all of those stacks of stuff, and the disorganization that it represented, was providing a significant amount of stress.
Today my office is stress-free. That is not to say that my work is stress-free, but rather that my office is not adding additional stress to that work. Thanks to a small comment on Twitter or by my former minister, Wade Hodges, I now have a G. T. D. compliant office.
For those of you unfamiliar with the GTD concept, it is a process by which you organize your thoughts, and then make rational decisions as to what those thoughts represent. The thing I like best about this process is that it involves dumping all of your thoughts out onto either paper or in some digital format that then allows your mind to be clearer, and more focused on the individual tasks that you have to accomplish.
In my work setting the way this plays out is that I always have a daunting list of things that need to be done. However, I was adding to my own stress by trying to keep track all of those things that needed to be done, and the reference material to do those things, and all of my scheduling etc. in my head. What I found was, just as they say writing a journal is therapeutic, so is the process all of looking at everything you have to do, deciding on a next step for those things, making a list of those steps, and then putting it out of your head. You refer to the list to take action, but don't need to stress over the other items, or whether you are taking the right action. The decision of whether you are taking the right action or not is a decision you have already made prior to putting the action on the list of things to do.
In addition to making those lists, rather than leaving things piled up and keeping tracking in your head to locate things, a simple filing system of A-Z allows you to put things in reference points so that you know how to get to anything you may need in a minute or less.
So today I get to add the Zen of the clean office to my Zen of a motorcycle life. For now that I have a clean desk, and the process by which to keep it that way, my head is clear.
For this clarity I sincerely wish to thank Wade, David Allen the creator of the “getting things done" method, and my secretary to put up with a lot as I was going through this process.
Retro
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Zen of Survival
You know, it is funny how after years of joking that I wasn’t going to live past 40 how it looses its comedy after my second stroke at 39.
Tuesday night I managed to survive my second stroke. For those that are unaware, on June 26th of last year (the same day that Michael Jackson died,) I suffered a stroke. At 38 years of age, needless to say it was quite a shock. The incident occurred on a very hot day when I was riding from Oklahoma City to Tulsa on my Goldwing. As I arrived in Tulsa I found that I lacked the ability to grip my brakes. As if this weren’t bad enough, the bike suddenly felt like it had a flat tire. I wasn’t sure what was occurring but was trying to believe that it was just that my hand had fallen asleep. But somewhere in the back of my mind I knew there was a possibility of stroke, because I pulled over and stuck my tongue out. After arriving home my wife recognized my symptoms and got me immediately to the hospital.
I ended up spending 2.5 days in the hospital, as my symptoms slowly abated. Afterwards my stroke was not obvious in any of my physical appearance, or performance. However, I did have some “cognitive dissonance.” There were words I just couldn’t remember, I continued to have problems using numbers, and my sort term memory was almost gone.
Release from the hospital was a welcome relief, as I felt the need to get back to some normalcy. To get “back in the saddle,” I returned to work that Monday. In hindsight I probably should have given myself more time, but I needed the consistency of going to work. Slowly the dissonance abated as well, and I was able to recover much of what was lost as far as I could tell (with some exceptions such as short term memory, either that or I am still oblivious to what was lost.)
Following last year’s incident I have not had any continuing symptoms, that is until last night. As I slept, the stroke began…. I woke to a numb arm, and I immediately thought of the potential of a stroke. After just a few moments I knew what it was, and woke my wife. It is amazing how quickly she woke up with the statement “babe, wake up, I think I’m having another stroke.”
Now I sit in the hospital again, all symptoms seem to have abated. And while I would rather be at home, and preparing for work tomorrow, I have grown to realize the blessing of simple survival.
This visit I have promised myself that I will take my time in returning to my normal break neck speed. The saddest part of this whole thing is that I may be quite a while before I can return to riding the motorcycle. While I yearn already to get the road under my tires, I will (not try but will) take my time.
Final thought: remember that just because you are young now doesn’t mean you always will be. Seize the Day, but occasionally remember to leave some day to be seized tomorrow, it’s better for your health.
Retro
Tuesday night I managed to survive my second stroke. For those that are unaware, on June 26th of last year (the same day that Michael Jackson died,) I suffered a stroke. At 38 years of age, needless to say it was quite a shock. The incident occurred on a very hot day when I was riding from Oklahoma City to Tulsa on my Goldwing. As I arrived in Tulsa I found that I lacked the ability to grip my brakes. As if this weren’t bad enough, the bike suddenly felt like it had a flat tire. I wasn’t sure what was occurring but was trying to believe that it was just that my hand had fallen asleep. But somewhere in the back of my mind I knew there was a possibility of stroke, because I pulled over and stuck my tongue out. After arriving home my wife recognized my symptoms and got me immediately to the hospital.
I ended up spending 2.5 days in the hospital, as my symptoms slowly abated. Afterwards my stroke was not obvious in any of my physical appearance, or performance. However, I did have some “cognitive dissonance.” There were words I just couldn’t remember, I continued to have problems using numbers, and my sort term memory was almost gone.
Release from the hospital was a welcome relief, as I felt the need to get back to some normalcy. To get “back in the saddle,” I returned to work that Monday. In hindsight I probably should have given myself more time, but I needed the consistency of going to work. Slowly the dissonance abated as well, and I was able to recover much of what was lost as far as I could tell (with some exceptions such as short term memory, either that or I am still oblivious to what was lost.)
Following last year’s incident I have not had any continuing symptoms, that is until last night. As I slept, the stroke began…. I woke to a numb arm, and I immediately thought of the potential of a stroke. After just a few moments I knew what it was, and woke my wife. It is amazing how quickly she woke up with the statement “babe, wake up, I think I’m having another stroke.”
Now I sit in the hospital again, all symptoms seem to have abated. And while I would rather be at home, and preparing for work tomorrow, I have grown to realize the blessing of simple survival.
This visit I have promised myself that I will take my time in returning to my normal break neck speed. The saddest part of this whole thing is that I may be quite a while before I can return to riding the motorcycle. While I yearn already to get the road under my tires, I will (not try but will) take my time.
Final thought: remember that just because you are young now doesn’t mean you always will be. Seize the Day, but occasionally remember to leave some day to be seized tomorrow, it’s better for your health.
Retro
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
