Rich is trying to convert me to a new way of life: the Cult of Done (whose founder is actually one of Isaac's heroes--the Make Magazine guy Bre Pettis). Here's the manifesto:
1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.
2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.
3. There is no editing stage.
4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it.
5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.
6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.
7. Once you're done you can throw it away.
8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.
9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.
10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.
11. Destruction is a variant of done.
12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.
13. Done is the engine of more.
Now this cult is clearly for the engineer-sy type (e.g. Isaac & Rich), working on projects that have to do with microchips and such. But applying it to the homemaker-mommy type that I am has its flaws. Think running a half-empty dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom for the 100th time with Clorox wipes instead of a good scrub, declaring your child potty-trained when really he's not.
But in the spirit of Done, I am hereby starting to blog more in small spurts. I've set the timer, which is about to go off in 6 minutes. So I'll just come up with a photo and call it done.
The photo is my herb garden I planted a few weeks ago. It's so wrong on so many levels (plants too close, edging looks sloppy, gotta call the cable company to get rid of all those cables on the wall, etc. etc.). But I'm happy to say that I planted all of those plants the day after I bought them, and didn't obsess over where to put them or feel too guilty for spending a little extra money for plants I didn't start from seed (horrors).
And now I'm done.
7 comments:
Yea Mindy! I love the garden - Mom would be so proud! Do you remember which ones you're supposed to plant in pots because they overtake the world?
Loves,
Amy
My husband would probably like it if I joined the cult of done, maybe someday.
YAY! Done! Good job, lady.
I'm only buying #4--Pretend you know what you're doing.
#4 is the story of Rich's life. He is the master of acting like he knows what he's doing when he often doesn't have a clue. Can be a headache with things like laying tile ("oh, we can wipe that mortar off later"), but fabulous when it comes to taking over my jobs ("sure, I can make dinner, get the kids' homework done, do the laundry").
Stop procrastinating?!
Well then I'll have to become an entirely different person altogether.
I'll never get THAT done.
luvs, aby
PS - glad you're gonna be blogging more! What's the timer for? Is it to FORCE you to be on the computer for a certain amount of time (amazing if true) or is it to LIMIT the amount of time you're on?
Aby, the timer is to limit my perfectionism and avoid getting sidetracked surfing or sifting through photos. Is there anyone who has to force themselves to hang out on the computer? Okay, I do know a few people. I admire them very much. But I'm not one of them.
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