There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

What the Universe Wants

Like yesterday, sometimes I complain to the Universe about what it's trying to do to me. There's several tricks the Universe plays. Like when I buy something nice for myself (ie. not something that is absolutely needed, typically more expensive that $25, and/or could be purchased to make my life easier - an example is I need new glasses) the Universe sends something that either 1) costs a whole lot more money and needs to be done (ie. car/home repair or something health related) or 2) bad news of some sort (like being informed that an employee has resigned, or needs to be fired, and I need to hire in the next person - although, ha ha, Universe, I don't do that anymore :: gives the Universe a raspberry ::).

The Universe also has this habit of trying to distract me from things I like to do.

Here's an example. I've listened to the Writing Excuses episode discussing the "Hollywood Formula" with Lou Anders a few times (episode 6:18, 10-02-2011). This morning I wanted to listen to it again and take notes (as this will help me keep the lesson in my head). I started trying to do this at 8:30am (I listen to podcasts and audiobooks while working, which is why sometimes detailed things in the audio get lost as I focus in on actual work, not what I'm listening to). Since then I've had 5 phone calls, had to go to someone's office twice, was interrupted in person three times, three IM conversations, and a few other things. The podcast is 20 minutes long. I've gotten 2 minutes in with all the distractions.

Understand I can go for weeks at a time without a phone call. The only times I normally go to someone's office is for information I need (instead of them calling me to their office). While I do get interrupted in person several times a day (ie. people coming to my cubicle), it's normally first thing when I get in, near noon, 3pm, or end of day. The IMing and email is ongoing, but much of it wasn't really about me, but other people's crisis (and other things).

I can hear you asking the question, "So, Steve, just how did you get time to write this post, then?" That's because this last time I came back to my desk, I didn't put my headset on. I didn't try to restart the podcast. That is, I'm not doing the thing I want to do to improve my writing (the Universe can be a bitch about my writing times and attention). So, because of that, it's now been the longest stretch of time today where I haven't been interrupted (about 10 minutes).

This is what I'm talking about.

Update in the 10 minutes after this post, I've had 8 emails, 2 immediate requests for help and 1 new project (which will bump back all the other projects). Because the Universe figured out I also like blogging.

Update 2 In the past 5 minutes of restarting note taking, 8 emails, one of which needs me to "call (someone) right now to solve problem." Which I'm about to do.

Update 3 It's now 2:20pm, finally finished the 20 minute podcast taking notes (I had to rewind a few times).

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