Colleen Doran wrote a great series of posts on time management. It's intended for artists, though you could easily extrapolate it to any creative field. This bit really spoke to me:
"Considering the short work weeks in some places, people who actually want to work hard probably do seem aberrant to those who consider a 35 hour work week too much to bear. If I were required to only work 35 hours a week, I would be gnawing at my own leg in frustration.
So, for those who think that no one but NO ONE would REALLY want to work this hard…um…well, yes they do, and if you had any imagination at all, you might actually be able to dig down deep into that creative well of yours and imagine people who are different than you are.
People you’ve never heard of whose work goes nowhere don’t, which is why they are on message boards complaining about how hard other people work. Other people working makes them feel bad.
Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated. I have no idea who said that first, but I am pinching it here.
The interesting thing is, creators who love their work don’t always feel like they are working. They feel compelled to create. It makes them feel GOOD."
Man, I wish I could staple that to a few of my friends' foreheads when they complain I work too hard. I have the day job at Saltmine U,; I have painting skills that need bringing up to par; and I have freelance work; and I have a second career I'm trying to get underway. That's a metric butt-ton of work, and sitting around and playing video games will not get any of it done. But when I'm not working on art, I'm miserable.
Seriously -- go and read her posts.
And now, for the closing of tabs:
Anaesthete pointed me to this card, which made me nearly spit my coffee this morning.
Stephen Fry's podcasts are a riot.
Stuff White People Like is likewise funny.
Also, annoyingly, my left shoulder blade and my erector spinae are not playing nicely with each other this morning. Ow. I'd just about sell my soul for someone to come put their elbow in my rhomboids.
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