Focus on the real work

You might have noticed I've gone back to my original layout of this blog. It's almost the same one I had when I originally started writing here at this spot. The header is a picture of all my handwritten notes that happened to be on my desk at the time. My glasses are in the corner because I don't need them for close up work and reading. Okay, yes, all of it was sort of staged for the picture. But everything is all real and still appears this way on some occasions. My desk will be covered in handwritten notes, pens, pencils, glasses, flash drives,calendars, and note cards. It turned into how I would work instead of the staged representation it started out to be.

There must be a lesson learned somewhere in my reflecting on the past that made me go back to the beginning. There are times you can get so far along on your journey that you forget the reasons you started out in the first place. You go so far into what you are doing, it becomes such a routine, you keep on doing it and lose track of all it meant except the doing. You can travel very far this way but when it loses purpose it's time to stop and think about it. So I did and went back to originals to find out why I started.

Somewhere along the way my ideas changed. They moved in a different direction from what I was doing in the beginning  as sometimes they should. I changed my header picture, changed text, then removed it completely. It was part of the journey. My desk became more cluttered with handwritten notes of ideas. It all seemed to be clicking along at a good pace. But soon all it became was an accumulation of nothing. It was a collection of fragments, pieces, and bits that didn't come together in any way except for the routine, to keep on doing. It was a misdirection that made it seem as if I was really doing something when I wasn't. So I stopped. I thought. I cleared my desk and spent time, not on writing down any more ideas for what I could do, but going back to see where I started and why. It was so I could get to the real work.

The idea was never to write snatches of ideas on paper. It was to write entire thoughts, entire stories. It's too easy to get caught up and get purposely distracted by the bits and fragments. It gives you the false feeling to doing the work when you're not. So I cleared my desk of all the unrelated notes and threw them out. The focus is back with a stronger sense of where I am and where to go from here.

The original header is a reminder of where my focus was at the start since I seem to forget when I get busy. I'm well ahead along on this path. I'm no longer at the beginning but I'm no longer willing to wander around lost. It's good to sit still and find that purpose again in order to find a stronger stride.

My desk is cleared. 

TT