But wait, what do you mean really fall behind?
I'm going to use myself as an illustration of this. A while back, roughly two years ago, I had the brilliant idea to start a little website, blog, and service to help people with fixing their computers. This brilliant little idea came to me when I dawned the nickname "Computer Guy." Yeah, so it's obvious where the name came from, and originated, but it's not so obvious as to why. I mean, yes, I did love technology and computers at the time, but I was no expert. In fact, just because I knew my way around almost every edition of windows except for the ones way before I was born, and I wasn't afraid of learning or getting my hands a little dirty, I just happened to become "the Computer Guy." At that time, the one thing I didn't realize, or fully grasp until I started working at Best Buy, was how fearful people were of technology. Before working at Best Buy, I truly didn't have a real concept of what I was getting myself into. I mean sure, I knew my way around windows, and other tech related things, and people would ask me tech questions that I was mostly able to answer, or find out and then answer, but I didn't know all the things I do now; not by a long shot. That may seem obvious, as we all grow in life, but the amount of knowledge that has been stored and learned in those two years isn't something I can measure. The things that I've learned by working at Best Buy have not only enlightened my mind with knowledge, but opened my eyes to today's era of technology and computing, and how people react to it.
Life before Best Buy...
Believe it or not, I'm actually having a hard time remembering what it was like before Best Buy, and an even harder time imagining what it would have been like without it. Working at Best Buy, as a retail employee in Computer Sales, gives you a first hand look, not only at today's current technology, but at what people do when around technology. How people react, and how their demeanors change when surrounded buy something that either terrifies them, or elates them, isn't something I can put into words.
When someone like me, a techie geek per say, looks at technology, we see something different than everyday people. We enjoy the stuff, cause we've used them since we were little, and we have no fear of them. The reality is we're surrounded by it everywhere, and younger generations are brought up with these things like they were toilet paper; it's like it was never not there. For many people, though, it's not as easy of a transition into such surroundings. When you see something new, that you've never used before, there are two possible reactions. Either the person shrieks away in fear, because they don't want to mess it up, or they will embrace it because they aren't afraid of messing it up. This boils down to our human nature. It's what I call the "Pain and Pleasure" principal. If something is more painful than it is pleasure or joy causing, the usual reaction is to avoid it at all costs. Yet, when the pleasure inducing qualities are higher than any pain risk, the choice is obvious; to flock to it as fast as possible. If the fear is overpowering, the person avoids technology. On the other hand, if there is no fear, there isn't anything in the way of trying it out. This is probably the biggest thing I would've missed out by not working at Best Buy. You can only imagine what it was like before Best Buy.
Because I didn't have this experience, I wasn't fully able to understand things. I started the website, blog, and computer service without a set, easily understandable goal. What I usually say is "If you can't see the target, you can't hit it." I didn't know what my goal, or target, was, so I didn't comprehend completely how to attain that which I didn't know. One thing I do remember quite vividly, though, was how much I really, really, wanted to work at Best Buy while I was running my little website...
Humble beginnings...
As I said before, when I started my website I had no direction, or goal, to reach. This being the case, I rather quickly lost touch with my own website, coming back from time to time to pay the "bills" like my domain name. For a whole year I haven't even visited my own website. Right as that year started, I cleaned up my website, did some quick maintenance, and left. I removed a couple things, and added others to it. Once that was done, I don't even remember saying goodbye. Yes, it was very saddening when I realized that, but instead of moping about it, I decided to do something about it. For the past year I've been so busy I couldn't breath, I haven't gotten any videos on YouTube, and I haven't even looked at/maintained my website. As saddening as that was, I was determined to change it; still am. I've already done a lot of work, posted a couple of videos on YouTube, and done some website maintenance. Things which bring me back to my original post title...
Falling behind is like Ketchup and Mustard...
...if you can't find the Mustard to do something, you can't "Catch up" to it. Ok, so food condiments aren't the whole point of the story, but if they help make the illustration, or even give you a chuckle, they weren't useless after all. If there's anything I know now, it's that catching up to something that's been left alone for awhile isn't the easiest thing on the planet. After falling behind in website maintenance, blog posts, and YouTube videos, getting "back on the horse" is a challenge; especially with how fast things move today. Now that I'm finally back full steam ahead, I've got a lot of work cut out for me to do before things are humming smoothly again. At the moment, I have back-links to adjust, general website maintenance to do on a total of three domain names, and organizing how I want it to be all working together; and I want it all done yesterday. Accomplishing the work is one part of the story, but how you are accomplishing it is just as important. If I go full steam ahead right now and try to do everything at once, everything will fall apart and I'll burn out of steam. If there's something I learned from this experience that i'd like to share, it's my method to making things happen. If you budget your time to work in short bursts, take a break every so often, continue, and repeat, it will make a world of a difference on your brain and body, while also making your work more productive.
Here's the equation: "((Work) (~1hr)) + ((Break) (~10-15min)) (repeat) = More work done, less effort and energy lost"
What that basically means is that you should work hard on whatever you are working on for about an hour straight, set an alarm or something to alert you when the hour is up, and then take a quick break for about 10 or 15 minutes. When you hear the alarm, stop everything you are doing unless it's life threatening to do so, pause for the break period and stretch. In that small amount of time, read a book, say a prayer, do some push-ups, walk around and think, or just go outside and breath; whatever suits your fancy best. If you do this every time you need something done, you will be amazed at how much you get done, and how clearly you can think.
Try it out and tell me how it works for you!
On a closing note, I'd like to especially thank you for reading this, and humbly ask that you share this if you think it's worth reading. Send it to your family, your friends, and co-workers. Also, check out my YouTube Channel and my, finally being maintained, Website(s). Thanks again and have a great day!
-Joseph (aka: JSREIFF)
