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It’s About Time Ruth Wong |
Right-brainers leave
too many tasks undoneHave you ever wondered why some people tend to have many unfinished projects ("long engagements," as Cindy Glovinsky calls them in her book "Making Peace With the Things in Your Life") while others are able to complete them and move on?
I used to get so down on myself for having so many "long engagements" cluttering my home and office. I felt that I lacked discipline or was just plain lazy for not finishing all the things that I started.
But then I learned about the role that brain dominance plays.
That's when I realized that I was right-brain dominant, an "Arbie" as the book Organizing for the Creative Person puts it, as opposed to "Elbie," or left-brain dominant. (R-bie/L-bie, get it?) Learning that was key to helping me to understand and accept myself.
If any of you readers have wondered about yourselves, I hope this column brings you the same insight and freedom that I now have.
Here's a simple test:If you answered yes to most of the above, you are probably an Arbie.
>> Does your brain generate lots of ideas?
>> Do you love to start projects but are weak on follow-through?
>> Do you pursue many goals at once?
>> Are you visual and leave things out so you won't forget about them?
>> Do you have a hard time focusing on one task?
>> Are your thoughts scattered rather than linear?
>> Is it easy for you to lose track of time?
>> Do you tend to be spontaneous rather than concrete and methodical?
While we use both sides of the brain, most have a dominant side. Both left and right brain types have strengths and weaknesses.
As you can guess, it's the Arbies of the world who, with their many ideas and spontaneity, have many projects started and too few (in their eyes) completed.
The problem stems from the fact that Arbies get their joy from starting projects while left-brainers get joy from completing projects.
SO WHAT'S an Arbie to do?
One idea, which I got from a school principal, is to have a chart with three columns, with the headings "To Do," "Doing" and "Done." Arbies would have lots of entries in the first two columns and too few in the third column.
To bring projects to the "Done" stage, we can take a clue from my colleague Marcia, who received a contract to write her first book. She worked on it for months, on almost a daily basis. To me it was a feat of persistence and endurance. I think the secret was in the deadlines her publisher had given her. She had to submit certain chapters by certain dates.
For our projects to get "done," we need to have deadlines. If no one has given them to us, we need to set some for ourselves.
We also need to set aside blocks of time and to have a plan and schedule to get our projects done. If you don't know how to plan and schedule, you might take a time management class.
It's about time to get serious about completing those projects that are important to us. This month's assignment is to pick one unfinished project and focus on it to completion.
As someone has said, "It's not how many projects you start that counts, but how many you finish."
See you in three weeks!
Get help
Ruth Wong will be teaching three classes at the University of Hawaii at Manoa this fall:
>> Sept. 20: "How to Manage Time and Get Things Done" (PO6328)
>> Oct. 4: "Organize Your Workspace for Greater Productivity" (PO6329)
>> Oct. 18: "Overcoming Roadblocks to Getting Things Done" (PO6330)
The cost per class is $45; register for all three (PO6331) for $120.
For information, call 956-8244. To register, call 956-8400.
"It's About Time," by Ruth Wong, owner of Organization Plus, runs the fourth Friday of each month. Contact her at "It's About Time," care of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or e-mail features@starbulletin.com
