Chris’ Blog

I have learned over the last few days that when you are having trouble getting things done, the antidote is… you guessed it! ACTION! Just start doing things! Maybe you feel like you have too much to do (your todo list got too long?) Then Make a SHORT todo list – one with just a couple of things. And get in the mind set that you only need to do those things. Reward yourself if you get them done – then, if you feel like still doing things do another thing that wasn’t on your short list. You will be surprised how great it feels to do something that isn’t on your list. Maybe you can’t do everything you wanted, but by starting small, and checking a few things off you begin to get momentum. This momentum builds over a couple of days until suddenly you look at your list and are amazed at what is left! Trust me, Action really works! And its easier to get moving slowly than it is to make drastic changes – besides, those big changes often feel overwhelming just to get started!

Some days things just don’t seem to go well. You finally get to working on something you have been putting off, and nothing seems to be working right. We have all had the experience of deleting the work we have just spend hours working on. Or maybe we didn’t delete it, but our computer shut down on us. Have you ever had a day like that? So what can you do to get back on track? First of all, don’t get upset – OK, maybe for a minute, but then let it go. Take a minute and get away. Relax, go for a walk or work on something different – but just for a few minutes. Then when you have calmed down a bit, go back, and start working again. It isn’t usually as bad the second time because you know a little better what you are doing. I mean really, now you’ve done it before!

So in the past I’ve tried to come up with code so that when you click a link that “unhides” a div, that it closes the rest of them. Well today I was working on something where I needed that functionality and I thought I’d post it for all to use. I’m sure I’m not the first to come up with this, but here it is:

function show(id)

{
var divArray = document.getElementsByTagName(‘div’);
var div = document.getElementById(id);
for each (divItem in divArray)
{
if(divItem != div)
{
divItem.style.display=”none”;
}
else
{
divItem.style.display = “”;
}
}
}

So when you make a call to show() you pass the id of the div you would like to show. Show(‘one’); for instance would show the div where the id=”one” and would go through and hide the rest of the divs.
This code could be changed to use any type instead of just a div if desired.

EDIT: I found that in the array returned, the last element is the number of objects returned. If there were 3 divs, then it would be 3, if there were 4, then 4. You get the idea… One way to remove the problem of having the last item is putting an if statement around the if… else that already exists.
This could read: if(typeOf(divItem) == ‘object’)

As I hoped, this week has already been more effective than the whole first part of February! While taking a break today I was pointed to this article by Chris Brogan. It is some great advice on cutting back on things that aren’t as important. I’ve been thinking a lot about this the last couple of days and about where I’m going to have to make cuts to get everything done. I’ve heard it said that we almost always try to fill our day with at least one more thing than we think we can do. So sometimes it is a good idea to figure out what we want to do, and then take one thing away from that list.

Alright, today was pretty good. I actually managed to get some things done. You know how did it? I knew today was a day off, and anything I got done was a bonus. So I just set out to get a couple of things done. I focused on getting them done, and now it means that tomorrow I don’t have to spend time doing those things and I can work on things that aren’t due tomorrow but are to be done for the next couple of days. Lets take it one day at a time – just a few things each day, and we will get back in the habits I was in previously! Tomorrow I get up at 6! Back to the grind!

So, I’m not really sure how to get out of this rut. Maybe its a bit of “senioritis”, or maybe I’m just not in the game, but it has been a rough couple of weeks. I’m still getting everything done, just not when, or how I would like to. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day… Maybe that will lift my spirits!

On an unrelated side note – if you have been reading my posts using an rss feed reader (or live bookmark) I have switched it up so that it only shows the last 10 posts, and it lists them with the most recent at the top… (This may or may not affect you…)

Ok, they are still a work in progress, but I wanted to give a basic description of what I have put together as my routines, and give a brief report on how it is working. (These ideas come as a compilation of ideas form others most of which I cannot take credit for.)

Mornings
The mornings are pretty simple. Wake up, exercise (which for now consists of sit-ups), Breakfast, Shower, Do some reading, And then comes the most important part – I create a todo list from my online “master list”. This list contains all of my projects, schoolwork, and assignments in general. I pull from this list the items that have to be done that day. The idea is that hopefully it is only a few. If it is just a few and I have the possibility of extra time, I pick a few others I would like to do, or things for tomorrow that with time I would like to get done early. This list is compiled on an index card that I can carry around with me all day. On the back of the index card is a space for notes throughout the day. I then go through my day hoping to cross everything off the card.

Evenings
At the end of the day my hope is to review the things I got done, and in essence check them back in and not think about them through the night. This will leave my mind to concentrate on the important things and not the everyday tasks while I sleep. This review will consist of checking off the items that I finished on my todo list (If they didn’t get finished at least marking my progress.) The next step is to take the notes off of the back of the card and creating any todo items that these require. I then can recycle that card and start over in the morning.

As I mentioned before, these routines aren’t quite perfect yet – well really my implementation of them isn’t perfect is what the problem is… I have been getting up early, but I haven’t been super diligent in making daily todo lists. It can take a lot to get a master todo list created and I’m hoping that it’ll be worth it to keep everything in line.

Being a dad is great! Jayden got his first tooth this weekend, and although it has been a rough couple of weeks, its nice to know why now. He is so cute, I will gladly take the bad with the good. Although he is in the other room right now crying with Kristine, there have been a few times in the last week that we have just played, and he has laughed, and just been so cute. I can’t wait to see him grow up and I get so proud of him when he does even little things. I truly love being a dad. It is the greatest, most rewarding thing in the world!

Well this week has been a bit crazy, but there have been a few lessons that I learned that I would like to share.

1. Sometimes you need to take time for yourself. Some days you need to not try to see how much work you can get done. Sometimes it is just important to relax and take a day off. Read, watch some TV, or just spend some extra time with those you love. Enjoy your days, and if you are getting too caught up with life take a day, or part of a day, even a few hours, off. It will do you some good.

2. Don’t become lazy. Now the last piece of advice was to take some time off. Don’t let that “some time” turn into more than one day, or a few hours (whatever you have set).

3. Get back to work! If you take too much time off, you will find that it is so easy to waste your days away and not feel like you are getting anything done. You then might want to waste even more time. It can become a productivity downward spiral that is hard to break out of. The easiest way to get out of it is to just buckle down and get something done.