I drive myself mad unconsciously. I achieve this by constantly reviewing what I have to do. When I am in the “doing mode”, I tend to be in the “thinking mode” as well. This is how my mind works. It is like a baby. It doesn’t stay put in one place long enough for you to do other things.

The worst thing about such baby-like behaviour is that it seems smug to be so, again just like a baby. It knows which buttons to push so that I constantly give it attention. I end up doing many things, but accomplishing nothing. The buzz word is multi-tasking. I think it’s closer to a Recipe for Insanity.

Following the Recipe for Insanity

If I follow this recipe, I realise that while doing an action, it is actually counter productive to think about the action. And while thinking about the action, it’s actually counter productive to do the action itself.

Let me explain. Let’s say I plan to clean the floor. I can just bring out the broom and start cleaning. Unfortunately, the broom has seen better days. It might be better if I vacumm. But the vacuum filter has not been cleaned for a long time. Maybe it’s time to clean it now. So I go clean the vacuum filter.

I still haven’t cleaned the floor.

While doing something, I tend to have the tendency to improve the tools I need to do that something. The lines are not clear. Stepping back is good. Looking at the big picture is good, but not when things need to get done. There are times when things need to be done and there are times when the big picture things need to be done. They rarely should be done at the same time.

GTD to the rescue?

In the GTD speak, these are the level of horizons that actions reside. For example, the very next action, like calling mum, is on the runway. The purpose of calling mum is to arrange her to be the babysitter for the weekend. That is my 10,000 feet horizon – a placeholder to define things that requires more than one action. Why would I want my mum to be the babysitter instead of some random person on the street? The answer lies in a higher horizon. As we go higher into the stratosphere, we will ultimately come to the question of – why am I here on this earth. But before that, I’m happy to just have the answer of “call mum”.

My answers are actually building up to higher questions, but until the questions on the lower horizons are answered, there is no way that I can go higher. I can’t answer the existential question if I can’t even put food on the table. I won’t be able to exist to answer the existential question.

So, do I do or do I think?

Do the actions when doing the actions. Think about the actions when thinking about the actions. Do not confuse actions on the runway with the “thinking-type” actions on the higher horizons. If you’re confused, just get your hands dirty on the runway. You can clean up on the way to the higher altitude. The water is cleaner up there anyway. :)