It has been a hell of a week. I’m working on one of those complicated projects that takes as much time to wrap your head around as it does to actually design the pieces. It will be exciting when it’s finished though.
Just now, on the radio, I heard a guy talking about Charles M. Schwab. Not the investment guy; the first president of U.S. Steel in the early 1900s. He Apparently he was a superb businessman with a wild streak and a willingness to take risks.
The story (which I have not been able to find online yet – will keep you updated) was about a guy who came to Schwab, who at the time owned the second most profitable business in the U.S., and told him he could make the business more profitable. Schwab told him that if he were correct, he would pay him anything he wanted within reason.
The guy’s advice was this: Look at your to-do list for tomorrow. Number the items by importance. Now, whatever is number one, finish it before you more on to number two. Even if it takes more than one day, finish the first thing before you move on to the second.
As someone who has a few unfinished projects sitting around, that’s pretty stellar advice. For me it’s more personal projects than professional – if I’ve told a client they’re getting a proof today, I have no problem doing whatever I have to do to get it knocked out. But there is definitely an old door in my basement that’s been sitting there for six months because I started stripping the paint off and got tired. And in the meantime I’ve finished 100 other projects that could have waited.
So maybe I’ll apply this technique to my personal projects and let you know how it goes.