Getting $#*! Done.

By Alfredo A. Weeks VI

A while ago, I had a chance to sit down and meet with a pretty interesting tech professional, while exchanging ideas on work and life. Sinking my teeth down into one of the crispiest almond croissants I’ve ever tasted, this guy had the nerves to ask me, “so, it looks like you have a lot of things going on. How do you get it all done?”.

My first thought was, “Whhyyy did you ask me that? Why are you asking me the question that makes my soul quiver?”. I snapped out of that natural moment of self doubt and began to give the worst explanation in how I perfectly orchestrate this journey of an artist, designer, entrepreneur, father, brother, husband, uncle, son in law, son, professor, boxing coach, boxer, mentor and blogger, you get the idea.

So, I replied to this deeply personal and professional question, with an answer which was garbage filled and full of stank. I walked out of that meeting talking to myself and thinking, what in the hell did you just say. My mind couldn’t stop thinking about “How I get it all done” for the next couple of days. The process and organization of my mind and life should be governed by some particular system, right. I mean with the experience in running a business that is already unorthodox in it’s business model, it should be easy to spew out a couple of generic phrases that automatically gives people the perception that, I have it all together. Right?

I recall my answer being something like “ Everything has to apply to the big picture and as long as it has purpose then I think it fits, blah blah blah”. My biggest issue was that I never even mentioned the tools I use day in and day out to keep the work slash life wheel spining. Am I just throwing every opportunity I come across in a big junk filled box of ideas hoping I need them in the future? Nah, not really. It’s more like I’m stock pilling to have tools to use for later.

A while ago I remember learning about an ancient Greek philosophy called Stoicism. Plainly, Stoicism is finding the best in the worst situations and believing everything you do in your day-to-day life connects, all while living your life as if everyday is your last. I think I’m ok with that. It gets deeper, but when I look at how I “Get it all done” I began realizing it’s a wild kamakzi mix of everything I’ve soaked up throughout my life. While scrapping off the pieces that just don’t fit. The best way I can explain it is through the life of a phone. Yes, a phone.

I began realizing it’s a wild kamikaze mix of everything I’ve soaked up throughout my life.

Years ago, as I’m starting my pre-college years I hated the idea of upgrading my phone every chance I got. I had the good ole Cricket phone that had a greenish screen, accepted no kind of photos and it was so small that I could easily loose it if I didn’t dig deep enough in my pockets. I thought it was the smallest phone on the market at the time, without all the prestige. For a long time I refused to upgrade.

Friends, family even my wife who at the time was just a friend would rag on my phone every chance they got. My defense was why should I upgrade when everything I need is right in front of me. I didn’t think I needed all of the extra features or social media to get things done. At the time you couldn’t find me without my mini phone and a 2008 Mac book black. To me, I had it all. If I needed to do some designs, art, emails and anything else I just needed to find a spot, and get to work.

I thought this was a good way to have a decent work/life balance. At the time, social media started to find it’s way on to everyone’s phones and I didn’t want to be held down with the constant bombardment of likes and notifications. I wasn’t anti social media, I was just pro world leave me alone for now.

As I realized that the world is evolving by way of technology more than ever before, the way we communicate started moving fast and I knew I needed to upgrade to a new phone. So I got the palm pilot. I could send emails, have some activity on social media while still putting my laptop to work. Fast forward to today with the Note8. I have the whole world in my hand. I can do everything I need to do in a blink of an eye. A lot more involved on social media while still giving myself a break from time to time.

Now that I have this phone with more functions than I can remember, this is when my favorite part comes in to play: apps, apps and more apps. Managing my work life balance is sorta like the way I manage the home screen on my phone. Uninstall when I don’t use it or it becomes pointless, or there is just a better app out there that does the same job. Remember though it’s always about what applies to the situation and circumstances. So everything in my phone applies and has a clear purpose in my day-to-day life. If the time comes where I see one app isn’t working then I have to find a new one and keep it moving.

We are all trying to find better ways to get the job done. Through technology, networking even sometimes holding on to our sense of nostalgia because it all applies.

By the time I figured out how I should have answered that question “ how do I get it all done?”. I realized how I said it the first time around works best for me. It might work best by having a garbage phone and being talked about for a few minutes but if it works for you then more power to you because even when you think your system is perfect. Get ready to adapt, adjust and evolve into what you need become in order for you to get the job done. We are all trying to find better ways to get the job done. Through technology, networking even sometimes holding on to our sense of nostalgia because it all applies. At the end of the meeting, after racking my brain a bit, I had to revisit what core characteristics I chose to inspire growth. Figuring out better ways to adapt to the changes in our environments, then, adjust whatever needs to be adjusted mentally in order to keep everything afloat.

It can be a mantra, quote, system, or all of the above. We are all trying to figure out how to get all of the important as well as mundane tasks in life done. One thing for sure though, if I can’t find the solution at the time, best believe I’m going to adapt and adjust to make it work.