Lately I've been
Whatever is on your plate got there because you said yes to it - in the fullness of ambition and desire and wanting to eat life whole. Sometimes we take on to-do's and commit to climb mountains because our soul demands it. Sometimes life throttles us with unforeseen and unrelenting demands. Sometimes busyness is the result of keeping up with the Joneses. Busy can be good. Busy can be bad. Busy is most often a choice.I've been giving a lot of thought to "being busy" lately. Work busy. Packing more and more things into a day. Plus all the things on my personal to do list that I really want to do. More photography. eCourses. Reiki. Blogging. I tend to get very enthusiastic about things. Say Yes a lot. And then suddenly I reach the "oh" point. "Oh. How did I get so many things to do". "Oh. I'm juggling too many balls". "Oh. Help!". It happens a lot. It's always all or nothing with me. I don't know whether this is a good or a bad thing!
This piece about the early days of flickr ponders the value of lollygagging:
[Caterina] Fake [co-founder of flickr] points to the salient example of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA. They spent a lot of time lollygagging and goofing off, going to parties ...Periods of lollygagging and goofing off have been much richer creative periods for me than periods when I've been trying to work relentlessly. Working too much drains my well of creativity whereas having fun, relaxing, messing about and generally being childlike make things happen. The trouble is in a professional workplace goofing off isn't really recognised as the way to go. I think it should be!
One of the best things I discovered for dealing with busy-ness was GTD. Getting Things Done. There are a number of books about the process which just appeals to my need to organise and plan. Last night they had a Twitter class about doing a Guided Mindsweep. I'm going to do one. I've done it before and getting things down on paper, as opposed to in your head, makes all the difference. It clears some of that psychic RAM (decluttering for the brain). It relieves that feeling of being overwhelmed which is the biggest contributory factor for me in getting less done, rather than more.
Lollygagging should be taught in businesses as the way to get more done. My most giddy moments are usually the ones that trigger thought processes and ideas, and connect me to "the flow". At heart I'm just a big kid. I believe that finding out who you really are, deep down, is the quickest way to your source and to being creative.
