81–90 of 90 posts
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I have seen those too. Do people really enforce these?
I would just do my own stuff anyway and just not tell the employer. Fuck whoever says I can't work on my own stuff in my free time.
I say this constantly to creative people who struggle with your problem. I've solved it myself by making "finished" a hard goal and habit, and leaving a trail of completed projects behind me.
Here's the thing... smart, creative people generate ideas at an appalling rate. Each new idea is a temptation. The trick is to sort through them, learn to ignore ideas that don't REALLY grab you. Go back and work on the existing ideas, the ones that have already grabbed you. Keep working on them even when they're frustrating or boring or seem impossible.
Next trick... have an exit strategy. Have a clearly defined "done" point. You won't finish if you don't know what "finished" means.
Next trick... deadlines. Set deadlines for interim goals, and interim goals small enough to feel reachable. Learn from Agile development techniques. You can do Agile even as a one-person shop.
The single biggest mental hack I have for getting around this is this. Just write it down. As soon as I write it down and stick it on a list of product ideas it's out of my head and I can focus again. As a bonus you've got a nice list 'o' stuff that you can go poke through whenever you get some spare tuits. At the moment I have (pause to look at trello) 57 items on the company "Product Ideas" backlog. Two have come o…
I feel like once I write something down in a list it will dissappear into the 'backlog' forever.
But the simple fact is, you will always have more work to do than you have bandwidth to do it, if you're a remotely interesting person. So sure, some things will "disappear". That's okay. If they DON'T disappear, other things won't get done.
http://www.workflowy.com Life-changing.
1. A To Do list separated by due today (or this week), due this month, due this quarter, due this year. Some stuff winds up on multiple lists (e.g. grad school is on this quarter and this year to keep it in my mind).
2. A few shopping list templates with basic items. I don't ever update them, but when I get to the store, I look and make sure to get whatever I know I don't have (the list has stuff like eggs, meat, vegtables, fruit. It's extremely vague, but helps me not miss a section).
3. Random notes that I've written down and may or may not ever go back to. I used to have a collection of these on my computer in assorted Doc files (and some on google drive) and I never knew where the one I wanted was). I read through my whole workflowy every month or so and get rid of what doesn't belong anymore. A lot of times, though, I am reminded of something I wrote down months ago and can now think of it again.
4. A few small projects that I'm working on broken into steps to make the whole project seem less daunting. Currently have a bathroom remodel on there (I used to do construction, so this really is a small project for me) with tasks like: tile, plumbing, electric and sub sections for what I need to pick up from Home Depot.
It's not perfect, but the apps that are currently out there never worked for me (Orchesta, Clearly, Remember the Milk, etc.)
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Is this a parody? Not to be cynical, but I'm curious how a nested to-do list can have such an impact that it prompts people to say "this made me cry."
For some reason there's an endless supply of people who eventually have the thought, "I should make a to-do-list app."
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I would just do my own stuff anyway and just not tell the employer. Fuck whoever says I can't work on my own stuff in my free time.
The problem is, if you manage to create the next Facebook, your former employer's lawyers might come up with a claim that your company is based on IP they own...
Http://statspotting.com/just-finish-everything/
Seriously, though. I have something similar taped to my monitor. A quote from @rands (I believe) that goes:
"You'll get more done when you stop thinking someone else is in charge."
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The problem is, if you manage to create the next Facebook, your former employer's lawyers might come up with a claim that your company is based on IP they own...
How can anyone tell when I started working on my project?
I am amazed why is it even a thing? How can employers own what you do in your spare time? (Esp. if it is in an unrelated field.)