Now as an adult, I will avoid staying awake to accomplish what needs to be done just to get to bed sooner. Funny how life works that way.
Friday, November 02, 2018
Tips to Get Tech Types Moving
Now as an adult, I will avoid staying awake to accomplish what needs to be done just to get to bed sooner. Funny how life works that way.
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This hits hard home. I am so easily distracted and so many things fall from my plate if I am not planning my days with detail, but sometimes I don’t have time to plan my days, so it snowballs, and projects fall down the sides. I loved this tips and I will try to implement them in my projects. My favorite is “Slay your dragons early” I think doing an assessment and finding out what I dislike doing the most and doing it first, will be very helpful in keeping me on track, because I tend to do things that I like and postpone what I don’t enjoy… and eventually it is too late for those. Keeping tabs on what I don’t like and getting it out of the way faster will make the processes easier and actually more enjoyable. Also I appreciate the section on over communication. Multiple times as managers we have many conversations where not everyone is on the same room, and over communicating can help to solve problems down the line.
I think these tips though simple are important reminders to have. The first 2 tips I try to abide by whenever possible and the third I myself am working on getting better on. I really do like to get the complicated, mysterious or my least favorite things out of the way first so if something goes haywire there is time to seek additional help and solutions while continuing to move forward. This isn’t always possible dealing with other people’s schedules but if it is possible why not do what works best for you. Over communicating I am also a strong proponent of I’ve learned to simplify as much as possible even if the person is experienced just because too many times the pictures in peoples heads don’t align the same way you think they do when they go, yeah I got it. Writing things down I’m still working on I’m better when I’m in charge of a team but I need to right more things down just for my own personal helpfulness.
It's interesting to me that this article approaches these tips as suggestions to get "Tech Types" going when these tips seem relevant to the general masses who may struggle to get things done too. It's funny, because as I read this I think I was hoping for some new information to help motivate, but these principles are things I already try to implement as a manager and personally as I tackle projects. Start with the things you really don't want to do, communicate EVERYTHING and write it down. I love having visual representations of what I have to accomplish. I honestly struggle to really understand all that is happening if I haven't processed it into a representation of some sort. For me that involves a note book in which I create priority to do lists, and a calendar which reflects deadlines and goals on my lists. I think it's important that every person figure out what works and motivates them and their teams, just like this.
As a major procrastinator, i could definitely benefit from the techniques described in this article,especially the point about “slay your dragons early” which comes up in many guides to kicking procrastination and inspiring productivity. I’ve found that when I have assignments due, especially something that i think of as “in the way” of what i actually want to be doing, making myself start early on it will almost always make me feel better and more proud of its quality, and leave me with more time to work on other things. I also like the tips about managing teams of volunteers and the importance of communication to make sure everything runs smoothly- the more your team knows about what they need to be doing, the better they’ll be able to perform. I know this article was written for church technicians but like many of these articles I think it has some great applications regardless of where you’re working, even if it’s not in theatre at all.
I am very bad at getting things done in my real life, but when it comes to work I tend to be better at that than other things. I think the idea that you can persuade someone to do their work faster is a little bit crazy because in my experience people are only motivated by their own wants and needs. I believe that to get people to do what you need them to do you have to convince them that they have come up with the idea themselves. I also don't like the phrase "tech types" because I think that it's super rude to talk about a group of people like that . We are all stuck in these wrong generalizations that make it really hard to push boundaries. Theater is full of procrastinators and I don't know how to make it better but it doesn't start with words like this.
This article brings to mind a key concept that Molly explained at the stage and production manager meeting for our Imaginarium project: the notion of momentum. I find many times when I procrastinate, it is because an assignment is hard to begin. If I don’t know where to start on a drafting, I don’t even want to think about it. An upperclassman once told me that the key to avoiding this unhealthy pattern is to start every assignment as soon as it is given, which echoes the “slay your dragon early” concept from the article. When faced with a large quantity of assignments, this may seem impractical, but it does not have to require that much more work. It could be as simple as laying out your tracing paper or brainstorming for a design project. This creates momentum in an assignment, making it easier to go forward and continue accomplishing.
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