May 4 in General discussion
Clean Where The Eye Goes First
Clean Where The Eye Goes First
My black sweatshirt had gotten some crud on it.
Nothing major, just a bit of dust, and debris that it picked up as I was moving things around the storage facility.
I naturally just wanted to get it off so I could go back to having a reasonably clean presentable appearance.
Not That I was planning on meeting anyone that day, but you never know who might show up. Besides, I felt better not having crud all over my clothes.
So, I brushed most of it off with my hand.
Some little bits just stayed stuck. You know the tenacious little buggers that hang on for dear life to some thread of hope.
Brushing didn't seem to help any.
They might move a little, then spring back, or they wouldn't budge at all.
I had to resort to picking them off one by one.
At first, I was a little overwhelmed and didn't know where to start.
Then I remembered that verse “whatever thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy might.” (Ecclesiates 9:10)
And for some reason, my brain interpreted that as “Clean Where The Eye Goes First!”
In other words, “Start where you are but just start.”
So, I did that, and noticed something very profound. (Well, profound for me at least.)
By starting with the pieces my eye went to first, my stress level started dropping precipitously.
Perhaps it was because, I was actually taking action. Doing something instead of just sitting there fretting about my problems.
As each piece of crud was removed, my stress level dropped just a bit more.
I saw a piece and plucked it off.
Then looked and plucked off the next piece I saw.
Over and over til I felt satisfied.
It wasn't always the biggest pieces that got plucked off first, and it wasn't that I followed some sort of pattern or system. Other than pick off the next piece that caught my eye.
I wasn't very strategic about it at all.
There was no particular goal. Things weren't very well or clearly defined. I had no real way to measure my progress other than my general feeling of malaise about the way my sweatshirt looked.
I never did get it completely clean, but I did get to a point where my body and brain felt it was “good enough”.
Soon I started thinking about life in general and some of the tasks I had been faced with recently.
I realized that that same principle of “Clean Where The Eye Goes First” could be applied there as well.
When faced with a job that at first appears overwhelming and you don't know where to start, you could just start with a general overview, a brush of your hands so to speak. That will probably clear away 80% or more of what needs doing.
Then just start picking at whatever they eye goes to first; what lever attracts your attention; whatever strikes your fancy; whatever stresses you out immediately.
By taking care of that immediate concern, you get your momentum going.
You just start.
You don't stay paralyzed by indecision.
You don't waste time on any “cost benefit analysis”, or trying to decide the “best use of your time” or “most effective manner” or “highest priority” or any other such nonsense.
Sure those concepts might be helpful later, after you have already done it once and are looking to do it better next time.
This time though, if you really don't know where to start, skip the superlatives (best, most, highest, etc.). Anything that requires you to compare methods is distracting you from getting the job done.
Instead, just pick the first thing that catches your eye, do it, then look for the next one.
When it comes to writing, just jot down the first thing that comes to mind, that first phrase, idea, or part of one.
Then jot down the next, and the next, and the next, and so on.
Keep in mind the general gist of what you want to express, that feeling, that angst you want to relieve, that sense of completeness and accomplishment you want to get to.
You can always edit things later to tighten them up and make them better and more (there's that comparative word) effective.
But leave all that stuff till later.
No comparing things until you first get through the initial flow of getting things out and done.
You first need something written a first draft done, before you can compare it to anything.
So, get it out, get things done. Piece by eye catching piece. Phrase by stress relieving phrase.
Each piece you complete, each phrase you write gets you closer to your ultimate goal.
You can feel it.
You can see it.
You can sense it.
In subtractive activities like cleaning, each piece you take away is an accomplishment. Keep subtracting until you have nothing left.
In additive activities, like writing, each item you add is an accomplishment. Keep adding until you have completed your collection.
Of course with some additive things, you may never fully complete them in the sense that you can always add one more piece to the collection. For those things, you can put them in some sort of container, whether physical like a box, or conceptual like an outline. When you fill the container, or run out of flow energy, then you are done.
Yes, you can go back and upgrade or clean up things.
Yes, you can then do your comparisons, after that first set, that first draft is done.
Go in flow til the flow stops.
When your emotion has been expressed, played out, and things are good enough.
That is the time to finally stop and evaluate things.
Just like Hulk eventually completes his task, gets out of danger, and calms down, changing back into Banner who can then see about picking up the pieces.
So too, can you go with the flow and flood of emotions, regardless of how strong they are, and smash all obstacles in your way, til there are no more obstacles to smash and the opposition has been beaten into submission.
At that point you will have accomplished your task, and you can go back to look for better, faster, easier, cheaper ways to do things.
NOTE those words: “better”, “faster”, “easier”, “cheaper” are all comparatives. When you find yourself asking or using such words and you are only on the first draft of something, just throw out the question “than what?” And keep picking your way through to your goal. Such words really have no place in a first draft run through as far as your process is concerned.
Get the job done first. Reach Your goal. Get to the top of the mountain. Then go back and look for an easier path.
It is much easier to find such paths using hindsight having already done “the impossible” task once, Than it is to find such paths the first time simply because you have nothing to compare them too.
Having now written my article, and accomplished my task of getting the ideas and feelings into a form that allows me to easily recall my insights of learning and share them with others, I could go back and edit it down, to make it better and more palatable.
However, I already have another idea that I want to express, so I'll just publish this one as-is for now, and move on to my next one.
That way people can get at least some benefit out of this raw material and perhaps later I'll refine it into something else.
My conscience is clear.
Make what you will of this idea to “Clean Where The Eye Goes First”.
May it serve you well.
Maranatha!
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Clean Where The Eye Goes First
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