Don’t Multitask; DO-TAATIRS instead
I didn’t think this was all that big a deal, but friend Jonna has insisted that I must blog about it.
I’m trying to quit multitasking. Instead, I’m trying something new to Get Things Done: DO-TAATIRS. It stands for “Do One Thing At A Time In Rapid Succession.”
Basically, I’ve found that multitasking is often a horrible way for me to try and get lots of little tasks done quickly. I have two monitors at work. When I have more than two windows open, honestly, I am not getting more work done. I’m cycling from window to window, often stressing out and trying to figure out where my attention needs to be.
So instead, I pick ONE thing, and work at it to completion, or as near completion as I’m capable of at the moment. Then I move on to the next thing, knocking down small tasks as fast as possible (works great for housework). I know this is sort of basic GTD for those who are hardcore about practicing it, but for some reason, having the acronym helps me remember that this is a better workflow model for me. I take a deep breath, and say “Do taters,” and suddenly, I don’t feel compelled to try and accomplish 20 things at once. Usually, within an hour, I have a whole lot less “stuff” pinging my attention, and I feel much better.
I’ve been working on my attention for about four years now, using David Allen’s GTD methods as well as David K. Reynolds’ Constructive Living. They work really well together. It’s had a huge impact in my quality of life, but like any good habit, you have to practice, and it’s easy to fall out of the habit and back into your older patterns of behavior.
So the next time you find yourself running in circles, stop, pick one thing, and DO TAATIRS. 
Learning to say no
I have to tell someone “no” today.
I’m not looking forward to it.
What makes it worse, is that I know this is going to be the first in a long line of “nos” that I need to start delivering over the coming few weeks and months.
I’m a compliant first-born daughter; everybody’s big sister/surrogate mom. I want to take care of everything for everybody.
I can’t take care of everything for everybody.
I do this, in part, because I feel like I need to “buy my air.” I have to earn my space on the planet and in other peoples’ attention spans, by doing things for them. By solving their problems. Or by being funny or interesting.
I belong here. The price of my admission to Life has been paid in full. I just have trouble remembering that.
It’s okay to say “No, I’m sorry. I can’t do that for you.”
Why I quit freelance, and why I’m launching a new blog
Be forewarned: That Darn Kat may be down for a couple of days this week, as I move to a new web host. I just received an email from my current host. They are closing up shop and shutting down their servers in a little more than a week.
image courtesy dhesterWhich means I had to also make backups of all the freelance client sites I was still hosting and let them know that they’ll have to find a new hosting provider as well as a new webmaster. I’ve also decided to let the couple of people who’ve inquired with me about freelance work know that although my work permits it, I’m just not interested.
I’m officially done with freelancing and small business webmastering. Holy cow, does it feel good to say that. In related news, I’m also starting a new blog. (More on that at the end of the post).
Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I went into business for myself, and I’m glad that I did the freelance thing for a few years. In my opinion, everyone should run their own business at least once, just for the experience. Truthfully, I wouldn’t be in the job I’m in now (which I completely adore and which feels like what I was made to do) if not for running my little web and design studio. Read more
All I really need to know, I learned playing RPGs
First, a little background.
I spent an embarrassingly large portion of my holiday break playing (and beating) Bioware’s massively addictive RPG for the Xbox 360, Mass Effect. (Female Paragon Sentinel, if you must know). I generally like RPGs (role playing games).
One of the first games Chris and I ever got hooked on playing together was Uncharted Waters for Nintendo, an RPG where you were a ship captain in 16th century Portugal. You sailed around the world, buying spices, artwork and other items low at one port and selling them high at another, building a fleet of progressively bigger ships while winning the heart of the princess.
Oh, and also avoiding getting boarded by pirates. This is probably why I have failed to respond to my friends’ repeated requests to join the pirate team on Facebook Pirates vs . Ninjas. I can hold a grudge like nobody’s business. I’m not sure I’ve ever forgiven their ilk for setting fire to my 16-bit carrack full of cloves all those years ago. (Although I’m sure the smoke was quite aromatic as it sank into the Mediterranean.)
Anyway, at least three times in the last two weeks, (particularly in my work life and my participation in social media) I’ve had a moment where I thought “Huh. This is pretty much just like an RPG…” Read more
The blogroll contracts, the blogroll expands
Did a little editorial work here today, and figured I’d offer a little explanation. Essentially, the new blogroll reflects some cherry-picked feeds from my RSS reader–blogs I read every day, or at least keep tabs on.
I also updated “Who is Kat” and “Where is Kat” and the categories a little bit.
If you have any recommendations for more blogs I need to add to the blogroll, or any other changes/improvements, drop ‘em in the comments.
Oh–and if you’re really geeky enough to care, I hacked Andy Beard’s “Antisocial” version of the Sociable plugin to include Sk*rt and Mixx.
Non-geek translation: I like participating on a couple of social bookmarking sites (specifically Sphinn, Mixx, Twitter and Sk*rt) that weren’t available in my old “Share and Enjoy” plugin, and I care about search engine optimization, so I took Mr. Beal’s hacked version of the plugin (which added Sphinn, Twitter and some SEO coding changes) and added Mixx and Sk*rt.
Writing about social media and marketing when you’re not an entrepreneur (and don’t want to be)
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I pretty much live at the intersection of faith, technology, relationships and commerce. It’s felt a little weird writing about the work stuff I’m passionate about here for a few reasons. Partly, I worry that people who like the stuff I write about faith and relationships will think the internet marketing and social media stuff is boring, and the folks who like internet marketing and social media stuff will think the faith and relationships stuff is boring.
image courtesy Marinela
So anyway, another reason I’ve been hesitant to go all full-on web geek, social media spastic here is that most of the people I’ve encountered who work in my industry who are blogging and participating in social media are either freelancers, consultants, entrepreneurs, or something similar; whilst I am excessively happily employed at LeapFrog Interactive, an interactive advertising agency. So a lot of the stuff that everybody else in that “problogger” group is blogging about pertains to succeeding in that type of environment. But ironically, agencies and in-house marketers for larger companies and brands really need to figure out this stuff, too. The world is leaving old-school marketing and advertising tactics in the dust.
I was really fortunate that Jason Falls, the social media explorer at Doe Anderson, reached out to me with a phone call after we were both featured in a Business First article about social media and marketing. We met, talked, and I checked out his blog at www.socialmediaexplorer.com. He also appears on dailyidea.tv.
It turned out we had a lot in common: early vocational experiences in radio broadcasting, happy careers at Louisville advertising agencies, awesome families, and a passion for social media. Jason comes to social media from a public relations background, whereas I’m coming to it from web copywriting and search engine optimization (SEO). In addition to meeting a really neat guy and getting an invite to the new Louisville chapter of the Social Media Club, reading Jason’s blog helped me wrap my head around writing about social media and the online marketing industry from the perspective of someone who isn’t an entrepreneur or looking to strike out on their own as a consultant.
I love writing advertising copy. (Let’s be honest, I love writing. Period. I would probably write greeting cards if it came right down to it.) It’s like playwriting, but shorter. There’s passion. There’s drama. There’s a certain “artist honing her craft” aspect to it that I love. But two actors performing a scene isn’t a real conversation, and neither is advertising copy, online or off. Smart agencies and companies need to learn how to have conversations with their customers.
I want to be involved with the people who are figuring out how to make that happen. I think I’m in a good place to do that.
Tracing a long red line
Three days ago, I had a dream.
At the church where we are now members, there is an art gallery in place of a foyer. In the art gallery right now is an exhibit on Darfur and the Sudan: photographs, mostly, but part of the exhibit is a red timeline that runs along several consecutive walls. It looks like a finger, dipped in blood, was dragged across the white walls of the gallery: one long, continuous line. There are dates marked along it with notes about particular events of significance in the Sudan that correspond to those dates. It starts with a crisis, and gets worse.
Three days ago, I had a dream.
I was in my house. The walls were the same warm nutmeg brown they are in real life, a soft cocoa color.
Except the red line. Like a finger, dipped in blood, dragged across the walls, with dates marked along it next to notes about particular events of significance. In the dream, the words are a blur, because I will not let myself look at them too closely. I trace the line with my own finger, but I will not look at the handwriting on the wall. From the bedroom and down the hall, I trace the red line.
It’s my life. The words are a blur, because I will not let myself look at them too closely. Read more
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