The Crazy Carousel of Time

Each of us is given the same amount of time. To get the most out of the small amount of time you have, sometimes planning and prioritization are required. Deadlines have to be met and time-consuming preparations for future deadlines must be accommodated. In the meantime, there are the demands of the moment, choices that must be made. Knowing how much time each thing you want to do is expected to take is the most important step in planning your time effectively. And there are things that can be overlapped.

There are times I can successfully keep multiple operations going all at once. For example, if there is a rehearsal going on in the theater, I'm cleaning the backstage area during the same time, since I've got to be there anyway, a video edit is rendering on one of my computers, and I'm taking incoming phone calls. Sometimes these individual and precious little pieces of time can be very tightly nested into a super-productive evening. And sometimes, they can come crashing down into an ugly shambles. Monopolistic phone calls are the worst culprits. Biting my tongue to keep from saying "...as a matter of fact, I really don't want to spend the next hour and five minutes listening to the details of your personal life. I have a personal life of my own."

(There are certain natural combinations of activities that work really well together, for instance, writing blog entries, and the "day job")

There are times when a conflict arises between the volume of stuff that needs to be done and the time allotted in which to do it. It is important sometimes to stay in time, to meet, for example a show deadline. When the lights go up, the stage set had better be finished, even if some of the paint is still tacky. Sometimes, to make all the puzzle pieces fit, more drastic measures have to be taken:

But then there is that aesthetic thing. If you compromise a job too much, people will notice. Too many jigsaw pieces with corners bashed off, and the overall puzzle picture will suffer. My friend Norman produces commercials for a Madison television station. He's constantly under pressure to meet impossible deadlines. He has a saying, and it's written on the wall of his office:

"GOOD - FAST - CHEAP
choose any TWO"

Thanks for listening and contributing. I wish I could tweet on the run like Lydia... I'm @dimbulb52