Cool Space

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

It's hot today. Not just hot -- Houston, Texas hot. Steamy and muggy, and I live in Maine, so there isn't central air conditioning in my office. I keep thinking I should buy a window unit, but then my wife convinces me that we really don't need one -- the heat is going to break any day now and stay that way. We can tough it out for a few more days. Right. She gets to take the kids to the beach while I sit up here, the sweat dripping onto my keyboard as I work on finishing a tax return one of my clients neglected to file last year. Gotta get it done, so deal with the heat or move on.

I decide to move on, but not far. I move over to Susan's office where it's a bit cooler. She's got herself a beautiful new Mac, a sleek birch desk from IKEA, cabinets I installed for her personal projects, and loads of organized space in which to work, and yet, the place looks like someone dropped a bomb on it. So instead of sitting down at her desk and getting back to the project at hand, I take a little inventory. There's stuff everywhere. Stacks and stacks of papers that need attending to, copies of proposals yet to be filed (but definitely followed up on), magazines she wants to read, a used coffee cup and spoon (probably from 5am this morning, but who knows?), CDs she wants to download onto her computer, workout videos, travel books (she's been back from France for almost a month now), briefcases filled with who knows what, pictures, headphones, a daily food log, wrapping paper and ribbon...I could go on, but you get the picture.

How does she work in this mess? Because she does work. When it needs to get done, Susan does it. But, because of life and all that comes with it, she gets the work done, but the stuff -- the mess -- just keeps piling up. So, I take a break from the taxes, and I put her office back together for her. It's not hard, and doesn't take much time either. What makes it an easy task is that she has the organizational infrastructure to get it back together fast.

Tomorrow morning when she comes back up here at 5am, she'll sit down to clear workspace, and her mind will ease. No distractions, no thinking about all the other things she has to do. Just her work. Ahhh. Like a gust of cool air.

Source: Cool Space

It's the Plan, Man

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Today is the first full day home with both kids, and summer looms long (and hopefully warm and sunny) ahead. Because I work out of my house, it's critical that our family have a plan to manage the blissfully carefree days we will be enjoying soon (actually, I guess this is already one of those bliss free days). Just telling Susan that she has to find someplace to go everyday is not going to cut it. And so, we've made a plan. Pretty much every day for the next 10 weeks is designated to be spent a certain way. If that sounds crazy, it's because it probably is. But here's the thing: of course we are not going to follow the calendar to the letter, but it will serve as a guide and a compass for all of us. I don't know about you, but having a plan makes life so much more livable. Instead of wondering each morning what they are going to do with themselves, Susan and the kids can decide whether they want to stick to the plan, or do something else. What matters is the plan -- the psychological comfort of having already decided, to some extent, what matters. Which gives me the comfort of knowing that I will be free to do my work with minimal interruption or temptation. Cause, you know, the beaches in Maine are pretty spectacular.

Source: It's the Plan, Man

Think Details

Cool Space

It's the Plan, Man