Procrastination – Funny How Things Work Out
Sometimes you do things ass-backwards and, against all expectations, they work better than if you’d done them “right.” Take this blog for example. I’d had the BullsEye since December 1994 – nearly five years – and after hundreds of articles, Google had awarded me the astounding page-rank of one.
Then two months ago I decided to move everything to a new hosting account.
It was easy to set up the basic blog installation, to activate the theme (template) I wanted, and to customize the appearance.
What was not easy was importing the old database with all the old articles into the new installation. It’s supposed to be easy… I had step-by-step instructions for it, and it LOOKED easy… nevertheless, it didn’t work as described.
After a dozen serious attempts to find the problem and fix it, the old articles were still AWOL, so I decided to climb out of my box and consider some alternativies. Possibility 1 was to keep flailing away at it till I accidentally fixed it. Possibility 2 would be to hire somebody who knew what they were doing. And possibility 3 – what if I just said screw the old stuff, I’ll start over.
When I phrased it that way, starting over sounded sort of charming. In fact, my interest was piqued a bit. First off, it’d save me both time and money. And besides, many’s the person who has mused, “If I had it all to do over again…” So what the hell, here was my chance.
One thing that did give me pause, however, was my lofty Google page rank. I mean, that PR of 1 was something to treasure and be proud of. It had cost me five years of consistent effort. If I lost Google’s approval, could I bear the shame? Would my readers still respect me in the morning?
Well, no… actually I didn’t think any of that goofy crap. What I did think was more like – “screw Google and the rating system they rode in on… five years and all they can spare me is a measly one?” So I gave the whole matter all the consideration it deserved, which was about three seconds. Tops.
Onward and upward. I did the new start and – confirming my suspicion that Google didn’t even know me – they totally failed to notice that three or four hundred articles had gone missing. BullsEye’s page-rank remained firmly at one. And then one day, about a month into the new deal, I noticed that Google had upped my ranking to a mighty two. Apparently their algorithm saw how much more often I was posting, and rewarded the site for it. Or possibly it was accidental.
Anyway, you can see that sometimes it pays not to worry too much, or as my Grandaddy used to say, “If it won’t cause the end of the world, or maim anybody, why fart around? Just get on with it.”
So what do you think? Would a trick like this be useful for when you’re procrastinating? Especially the “I’ve got to get this thing better than perfect before I can release it to the world” kind of procrastination.
I mean, I hate to break it to you, but most of what you and I do will NOT cause the end of the world. Not even slightly. And if you really believe you’re powerful enough to maim anybody with the piddle-crap little project you’re working on, then you need some help with your delusions of grandeur.
A well known philosophical rule of thumb is to either spit or get off the pot.
So whatever you’re obsessing over (but not doing), get off the pot and get on with things. Google might even start liking you (but of course, who cares anyway, right?).
Cheers from warm and smiling Thailand,
Charles
Related Posts:
Oh, and one other small thing I didn’t mention in the article. It’s about attitude…
I’ve got one.
Early on, somebody cautioned me not to write exactly like I talk or I’d alienate (read: piss off) too many people. So for the past ten years I’ve carefully edited out that side of my personality when writing or speaking. It’s not that I was lying, exactly. But I was leaving out a big slice of who I am. In a word, I was being an approval-ho.
So one of the things I decided when I re-launched the BullsEye was to be more of myself. You may have already noticed a bit more edge in my articles. (And if you haven’t yet, then I predict you will soon.)
The things I’ve written up to now – they’re true, and they’re all good advice – but they weren’t written by the “whole me.” So far I’ve showed you my compassionate side, which is genuine enough. But you haven’t yet had a chance to meet my other sterling qualities… my (warped) sense of humor, my tendency to find inspiration in odd places, and my blow-it-out-your-tailpipe approach to a**holes.
like I said – attitude.
So if this sudden burst of self revelation leaves you shocked or disappointed, please accept my (lukewarm) apologies. But I’m outta my cage now, and for better or for worse, I’m here to stay.
Cheers,
Charles
Happy to see you out of your cage, Charles.
I wonder how many others of us put ourselves in one kind of cage or another?
“Ah Mr Burke! To the Dark Side is it now you go?”
Yes, indeed, funny how things works out!
As a “Be Perfect” since before I can remember I know well the perils and pitfalls of perfectionist procrastination. It’s a part of my daily battle.
My own father, passed these past thirty years, still lives in my head.
He tells me regularly, “It could be better”, “You’re not doing it the right way”, “If you’re going to do it, do it well”, “Is that the best you could do?”, “I expected more”, “That’s good coming from you”, “It’s not as good as I’d hoped for,” “Yes, it’s okay, but…” “If you’d only done it this way,” …..
Heck, I think I could go on and give you the top two hundred. My Dad was… a perfect critic.
For a long time I thought that my Dad wrote the “Be Perfect” book. He didn’t.
I think he was given a well-thumbed copy by his Dad – my Granddad. And where did he get his copy?
I don’t know, but that biblical phrase keeps coming back: “The sins of the Father shall be visited unto the son, even unto seven generations.” (I wonder if seven is the conservative estimate?)
It took me a long time to figure that one out and discover my Dad shared my predicament.
This procrastination thing for us “Be Perfects” is well, so perfectly ingrained! It’s kept us alive. In fact, it’s kept us alive for generations. But it’s kept us alive at a cost.
If instead of “kept us alive” you read “helped us survive” then it maybe depicts a more perfect picture. It has indeed helped us survive – but only survive. Nothing more.
This “putting off doing things”, this “procrastination” takes away our need for performing perfectly. If we “put off” performing we put off our need for perfection. It takes away the need to “Be Perfect”.
Perfectionism doesn’t encourage growth. It doesn’t encourage exploration. It doesn’t encourage experimentation. It especially doesn’t encourage any hint of ….failure. And without failure, there’s no learning through experience.
No. You see, many of us “Be Perfects” don’t learn primarily through experience. We learn primarily through second hand knowledge. We learn what we are told. We are told to be good, to be perfect, to “do what I tell you, not what I do!” And so it goes, even unto the seventh generation.
You’ll find us anywhere where “telling” others how the world works is involved. You’ll find us in schools, colleges and academia. You’ll find us in management. You’ll find us in publishing, broadcasting and the media. Heck, some of us even fight on the front-line with websites and blogs!
“Be Perfects” are taking over the world. Failure is not an option!
DAMN! See what’s happened? That’s three times I’ve used the F-word!
Insideous is the Dark-side strategy for ruling the galaxy.
Funny how things work out indeed, Master Charles!
Charlie - You’re right – we’re all in cages, even the most “free” of us. Today I break out into a larger space, enjoy that for a season or two, then gradually find the the new boundaries. Aw hell – I’m just in a bigger cage. So it’s soon time to break out all over again, and again, and again. And as long as we understand what’s happening, it can be fun… we can really get hooked on this expanding universe shit.
Jon - My congratulations on recognizing what was happening there. Most folks don’t – they just keep on playing the same old crappy routine they inherited, and wondering why it isn’t bringing them the satisfaction they were promised. Can we all say “con job”? My dad owned a plumbing shop, but he could never keep a good worker. He’d hire a promising new guy who would go out on a job and come back all enthusiastic. Dad would ask how he’d done the job, and since there are always several different ways to do anything, Dad always told him it should have been done differently. The next time the new guy went out, he’d try to guess how Dad would want it done, rather than just doing it. Every time he’d come back in, he was told he was wrong, and with every job, he’d get slower and slower, more and more demotivated. I was only about 22 at the time and knew nothing about business or leadership. But I did know my Dad and his ways. The old bastard just could not let anybody else be right about anything. I was so damn lucky to have him as my father. I’d never have learned as much from a normal person. Sounds like you had the same kind of good fortune I did. So I’m very sincere when I offer my congratulations! It not only made you tough as nails inside, it also gave you extaordinary insight and vision.
Hey Charles
Did I detect a typo in your original post, “Spit or get off the pot”
I come from a family of seven kids. We had one bathroom. Whenever any of us took what my mom perceived as too long, she would pound on the door and yell, “SHIT or get OFF the POT!”
Within seconds, that toilet would flush, the door would fly open and the next kid in line finally got a turn.
Needless to say, I heard that version of the phrase A LOT when I was growing up!
All the best from sunny and cool Toronto,
Russ
Congrats! Google is WAY overrated (I switched to bing long ago and have had great results), but the point is this post helped me learn to hold onto things I “chrish” loosely and, if/when I have to let something go, I probably won’t miss it.
Nice thought. (makes me feel less fear and more free)
Russ - Hehehe… looks like you saw through my flimsy attempt to keep this a PG13 blog.
P90X - That’s it exactly!