Getting things done

[sabrefist]

How do you get things done...

This is my story for those who find it difficult to stay at a task for more than a short amount of time...

On january first 2008 I decided I would start taking guitar seriously and prepare to take the lifelong journey to improve until I reach the level of some of my favourite guitarists. I knew I would have to keep to a practise routine and continully new learn things and revise old.

When I read about guitarists that I admire I often find they started playing at a very young age from around three to thirteen. So for me as an 18 year old I'm quite late in terms of where I want to be eventually. This sometimes put me off but I realised that if I quit then I'll never reach my goals anyway, besides I've been playing instruments for a few years now and first picked up a guitar when I was 15. I bet many take a few years to totally commit anyway, and some never will.

I've had my days where I'll practised 10 solid hours and then the 10 hours will be over and I'll feel I've not progressed. Then the next morning I'll see changes and suddenly remember things that I've learnt. Even though this approach offers valuable results it isn't always for me.

I realised the best way to learn something or to complete something is to tackle the challenge or task in short bursts. I can spend ten hours practising or I can use a day to do other things with a short burst of guitar playing every so often. I find that this helps me learn more than solid practise.


In 6 months of revising my practise routine I have found a comfortable approach. I keep a notepad and list everything I want to accomplish and tackle each task in short bursts. I don't just lump all my technique practise together, then do all my listening excercises and so on, I mix it up. I am entirely self taught at the moment but I am considering getting lessons in the future, It takes a lot of discipline to stick to a routine and make sure I am continually making progress.

This can apply to anyone as well as musicians. If you run an online buisness you could work your bursts into something like the following:

1. Begin writing an article: 2-3 minutes
2. Answer a few customer emails: 10 minutes
3. 1 minute break
4. Order some new stationary/buisness cards/etc... : 5 minutes
5. Write some more of the article: 20 minutes
6. Plan a new website layout: 3 minutes (rough sketch)
7. etc

It seems a little random but thats the point of working in short bursts. Obviously when you have deadlines or something important you need to prioritise but working in short bursts will prevent you from getting burnt out when stuff gets repetetive. A lot has been done there in the space of about 40 minutes which otherwise may have been forgotten about.

This is how I like to do things and I know everyone is different. How do you guys overcome feeling burnt out/tired/lazy when there is something to be done, how do you organize yourself. And how do you make those sometimes difficult first steps and final step?