Reachable Goals 101.5: Confessions
Balance versus Activity
1700 years ago Diogenes Laërtius wrote that what's difficult is "...To know one's self," and what was easy is "to advise another."
Do I advise clients to publish an unfinished-looking site? NEVER.
Am I more likely to get on with my site if I publish it unfinished? Yes.
But that's sooooo unprofessional!
Guess what? As of the end of October I published my own unfinished AbleReach web site revamp. I felt like laughing. Web Content Consultant, my eye! Yet that is exactly what I do, and pretty darn well, I might add.
As of late October my behind-the-scenes structure included about 100 unlinked, open spaces for future content, and four, count-em "4" of my own finished pages. As I was joking to a friend, that's four pages down and 30 to go before the main site will look finished. Then come the expansions and updates, the php includes, the css divs and ids that will replace all those individual classes I was so proud of when I first learned to write them. I wrote the code I knew best because that was the fastest way to get going.
Can getting off the block be more important than getting off on the right foot? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on how wrong the foot.
Why did I do it? This time, the emotional jump-start was more important than surface-level perfection. The morning after publishing my unfinished template I woke up with a gleam in my eye and laughter in my heart. Six weeks later I am still jazzed. Oh, this irony! I feel free. I've exposed my soft underbelly for all to see, come out of the closet, poked a little fun at myself, lit a fire under myself, put myself in the shoes of my clients... and, gee wiz, I so hoped anyone who checked in by early in 2005 would see only sparkling and complete content.
Today, January 13, 2005, life behind the scenes has picked up considerably. My folders of research and drafts are bulging beautifully. My own sites are still "in development." If I finish two pages a day I'll be where I want to be in about three years. In three years I'll have my eye on 2010. I'm a lifelong learner, an ongoing project kind of a gal.
In the meantime, there are reachable, simple, short-term goals that really do make a difference. I wanted to teach: I have taught. I wanted to learn some Linux: I am learning the leanest of smidges as time allows. I wanted to make more progress with face-to-face networking: love it, am doing it, plan more of it.
I want to make more progress my own site: lo and behold, the good red road is ahead. Better get cracking.
p.s.
Do as I say, not as I do, but if you do do as I do (groan,) do have a sense of humor about it. Above all, enjoy life and keep moving forward. Life is too short for anything else.
Link of the day: The Procrastination Research Group
Have fun!
1700 years ago Diogenes Laërtius wrote that what's difficult is "...To know one's self," and what was easy is "to advise another."
Do I advise clients to publish an unfinished-looking site? NEVER.
Am I more likely to get on with my site if I publish it unfinished? Yes.
But that's sooooo unprofessional!
Guess what? As of the end of October I published my own unfinished AbleReach web site revamp. I felt like laughing. Web Content Consultant, my eye! Yet that is exactly what I do, and pretty darn well, I might add.
As of late October my behind-the-scenes structure included about 100 unlinked, open spaces for future content, and four, count-em "4" of my own finished pages. As I was joking to a friend, that's four pages down and 30 to go before the main site will look finished. Then come the expansions and updates, the php includes, the css divs and ids that will replace all those individual classes I was so proud of when I first learned to write them. I wrote the code I knew best because that was the fastest way to get going.
Can getting off the block be more important than getting off on the right foot? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on how wrong the foot.
Why did I do it? This time, the emotional jump-start was more important than surface-level perfection. The morning after publishing my unfinished template I woke up with a gleam in my eye and laughter in my heart. Six weeks later I am still jazzed. Oh, this irony! I feel free. I've exposed my soft underbelly for all to see, come out of the closet, poked a little fun at myself, lit a fire under myself, put myself in the shoes of my clients... and, gee wiz, I so hoped anyone who checked in by early in 2005 would see only sparkling and complete content.
Today, January 13, 2005, life behind the scenes has picked up considerably. My folders of research and drafts are bulging beautifully. My own sites are still "in development." If I finish two pages a day I'll be where I want to be in about three years. In three years I'll have my eye on 2010. I'm a lifelong learner, an ongoing project kind of a gal.
In the meantime, there are reachable, simple, short-term goals that really do make a difference. I wanted to teach: I have taught. I wanted to learn some Linux: I am learning the leanest of smidges as time allows. I wanted to make more progress with face-to-face networking: love it, am doing it, plan more of it.
I want to make more progress my own site: lo and behold, the good red road is ahead. Better get cracking.
p.s.
Do as I say, not as I do, but if you do do as I do (groan,) do have a sense of humor about it. Above all, enjoy life and keep moving forward. Life is too short for anything else.
Link of the day: The Procrastination Research Group
Have fun!
posted by E. Able at 2:17 PM
