I have forgotten how difficult it is to change gears when working on multiple projects simultaneously. The shift in thought seems enormous and sometimes overwhelming.
It seems worse when your projects are starting pretty much from scratch and you have to divide your time between them. Time is a limited resource. Priorities must be made. We have choices everyday, which ideally should align with our core values.
As a strong proponent of individualism and freedom of choice with profound understanding of the consequences of actions, I have a fun time juggling my priorities. It all can be boiled down to the pursuit of happiness, of finding and completing fulfilling work and tasks (not just doing chores), or just having the Snoopy-like feeling at the end of each day "It was a good day, I did every thing right, in my opinion." So I take my to-do lists in stride. If I can say that at the end of the day, the closer I am to fine.
Trade-offs are inevitable, aren't they? One can choose to do one task, in negligence of others, and of course, pay the price later. What happens when things are out of your control? External decisions, accidents, and learning about rules that you had no participation in creating, affect your own choices. Flexibility and adaptability, and hence the need to change gears, are required coping strategies in the ultimate struggle of getting things done, or getting what you want out of life. Long-term thinking and alignment with your core values feel better than short-term thinking and "selling out", in my opinion. It seems every time we are faced with a choice, it really should not be so agonizing if we stay true to ourselves.
Where (a specific place I mean) do I often change gears? Are there specific triggers? Does my anxiety go up or down? How can I control how I feel about where, when, how, and why I change gears? What is my motivations and how can I reduce anxiety or fear as a negative motivator? This is interesting pre-work, requiring "tough love".
I leave you today with some lyrics, to give you a sense of where I am today, it's the best I can do for now (red added for emphasis):
"Well I got thrown out of work on the Kokomo
Don't ask me what I'm doing, I don't know
I hope he wasn't joking when he wrote me that letter
Things can't get any worse, they got to get better
Well I'm a little down under, but I'm feeling O.K.
I got a little lost along the way
I'm just around the corner to the light of day
Just around the corner to the light of day"
- Bruce Springsteen, Light of Day
