This monday, as I was working in my self-assesment sheet for parent teacher conferences--or as we call it in the IA, our growth chart-- I ran into one of the "criteria" boxes that read:
"managing small and large projects".
"managing small and large projects".
At first, I had no idea in which level in this category I belonged to, and then I realized it was because the category was not formulated to match my learning style; I had to divide it into two. I opened a new box, deleted the "& large" from the first one and added another that tittled managing large projects. You see, the thing is that I've found through the semester, and specifically through the current documentary task, that I have a completely different performance when facing smaller deadlines and ones that are slightly more voluptious.
Even if we sit down as a class to reach consensus on deadlines when desiging a project, when you have a vision for something wider it's sometimes hard to envision exactly how much time you trully need for each task. Another issues is, aswell, that when I feel that I have a lot of time, you dream larger (and maybe, ask for too much of yourself in the time given). Now that we're approaching the deadline I've felt that managing large projects is a struggle for me and I've faced a couple of barriers that have delayed my original plan. |
The first issue with film is obviously over-filiming and creating space in your computer. Believe me, with more than 7 hours of footage your laptop might stop responding as effectively as you would like to. Not only that, but once I handled to find two external hard-drives, final cut pro was automatically trying to duplicate my footage when I imported it. Well, after an hour and a half which I had scheduled for editing which I spent investigating how to change the scratch-disk settings in order for it to work, it finally did. |
I was STRESSED, and as we've learned: stress is not healthy. Now I know, that when I am under pressure with large scale responsabilities I get overwhelmed and that kills my productivity. Luckily, as I was wondering through facebook, Pedro had posted an article that made me figure out some of the key things I was doing that where hindering me from powering through. The article went through seven things people should STOP doing to be more productive and I was instantly connected to three of the habits I had built into myself and where passing unnoticed through my lifestyle--habits that I have to change. |
1. stop working over time and increase your productivity More time to complete a task doesn't mean you'll work more, it can sometimes mean your less productive in that time period. A clean and precise schedule, that gives you a sense of pressure to get things done, will boost productivity. | 2. Stop being a perfectionistthis applies to everything I do, whether it's a small task as writing an article for The Break or a huge project like this one. Perfection in details can sometimes be benneficial, but knowing how to find a balance between your main priority and the time you have is vital for success in everything in life. | 3. stop working and have do-nothing timeScheduling hour-long working periods for a day and then having a weekend off is not a good idea when speaking about productive techniques. Work accumulates and it's better if you are allways doing something towards your deadline even if it's a menial detail because those 100 menial details will become a huge task that will delay your original plan. |