T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
4. Start anywhere
If you aren’t ready to start at the beginning, start someplace else.
You can’t escape certain sequences. A plumber has to turn off
the water before disassembling the pipes, for example. But jobs
often contain a great deal of flexibility. The finished product may
need to be assembled in the proper order, but you don’t necessarily
have to tackle the components in that order.
A director shoots a movie in the most practical sequence, get-
ting all the location shots before returning to the studio for the
interiors, for example. These separate scenes become the raw
material for the finished movie. If the director and the editors do
their jobs well, the viewer can’t tell (and doesn’t care) in what order
the scenes were shot; the movie tells a coherent, entertaining story.
The seams don’t show.
When you’re thinking your way through a problem, it doesn’t
matter where you start. Often, it is more productive to start at the
end of the puzzle and work backwards. Just start somewhere.
5. Start anyway
Lots of writers have suffered from blocks at one time or another.
Poets seem especially susceptible to the disease.
But the working stiffs who write on deadline day after day
never seem to get blocked.
Lots of times they write when they feel lousy. Lots of times
they worry that lack of time has forced them to do a lousy job.
Folks who can’t afford to get writer’s block don’t get it.
The same goes for plumber’s block, CEO’s block, and bus
driver’s block.
The poet can afford to wait for inspiration. The rest of us do the
job, inspired or not.
If you’re good at your work, a professional in the best sense of
the word (whether or not you’re getting paid), your mood doesn’t