Multiple Streams: My secret to get so much done!
When I was a young kid, I realized two important truths in life – one is that you build your own luck and second, if you want to get lots of stuff done, don’t burn out!
I want to focus on the second, when I was a teenager, I realized that if you focus on ONE THING for too long it becomes boring or you get tired of it – worse yet – go about it very inefficiently. For instance, if you focus on fishing for an hour or two, it’s fun… do it all day, everyday for a week and it’s boring even if you catch all the fish you can eat! I see many people focus all their time and energy on ONE THING and I think it’s the biggest mistake you could ever do in business or in life.
You might ask yourself – Jon – you’ve been working on CNCKing.com since the fall of 2008 and designed/released hundreds of projects… aren’t you following your own advice? Actually, I am! You see, I get tired of designing sometimes, so I’m allowed to work on other people’s designs… maybe I get tired of laser cutting projects (yes, that does happen), I can switch gears and do some 3D printing projects instead. Sometimes I get tired of looking at my computer screen – so I focus on making live video – when that becomes boring, I work on my book. Do you see a pattern? I get bored just like everybody else but each tasks that I replace it with improves the overall business!
If you are tired of marketing – don’t push yourself through – do something else! I like to cook and bake… made a few loafs of bread yesterday while stuff was rendering! I’m now getting batteries charged for my video camera in preparation for the 3D Systems Cube coming to Perth tomorrow – the model for that is already done! When my body gets tired of sitting in a chair, I just go for a walk or soon, my own home gym.
What’s missing from this picture? The first is TELEVISION – I don’t have one! I think television is the easiest way to get NOTHING done but not feeling so bad about it because you “learned something”. When I have kids, they will not have a television – they will have to learn to use their time towards making their dreams a reality, not pressing pause for a half hour or multihour show. I get my news through iTunes and play it in the background when I get tired of listening to music… no commercials! I watch movies when I have time and when I’m completely tired of anything 3D or even CNCKing.com related – I jump into my wife’s business, HowToChinese.com.
Another thing missing from this picture is the phone – another massive time waster! If you cut-out the constant interruption that a phone brings and migrate everything to e-mail or online chat – you’ll be amazed at how much you can get done in any given time segment. Like I tell people surprised by my lack of phone, I’d love to have a phone but its always ringing!
To help visualize things better, think of each task you do in your life as a small stream, each one of those empty into a larger stream and then into the ocean. All you have to do is decide is the PURPOSE behind having all this empty into the ocean! Most people go through life without EVER giving their life a purpose for being – in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter but for your own well being – find your purpose and drive your passion in that direction.
I GOT NO TIME!
When people tell me they don’t have time, it means they haven’t looked at what is important in life and prioritized accordingly. If you have no time to cook but you watch television for an hour a day… there’s your problem right there! Yes, I know you love the adventures of “My Little Pony” but in the grand schemes of things, how does “My Little Pony” help you towards achieving your goals in life? Probably zilch… drop it! Better yet, take your television and throw it in the trash along with your phone! Everybody in their life has something that gets in the way of achieving a goal but by scratching that itch long enough, it will eventually go away.
Enough with my rant, onto some eye candy! An updated Sydney ANZAC War Monument!