I was working feverishly the other day on a new web site layout for my personal site, partially because I don’t have enough things on my plate already (joke), but mostly because I’m enamored with all the blessings of HTML5 (a very exciting thing for us nerds). In the midst of my labor I realized that a solid 6 hours had already passed, going on 7. That’s just how I roll; once I start something I really don’t want to stop until it’s done, no matter what the cost.

I can recall being in high school and staying up until 4 am (2 hours before school started) trying to unravel the mysteries of CSS stylesheets and div tags, really not caring about how late it was, how much time I had spent, and what other responsibilities awaited me later on in the day. It’s an unfortunate habit that has followed me well into my adult life. Whether it’s making records, practicing, filming, editing, writing, designing a web site – or even just cleaning my house… It’s all or nothing. 0% or 100%. There is no in-between.

Although this is something that I’ve completely convinced myself of (some would deem this as workaholism, I just call it normal), it’s completely wrong. I have to physically stop myself quite often and remind myself that there’s 10%, and 20%, and 76%… There’s a second place prize… And third place too. I’m reminded of Will Ferrell’s character Ricky Bobby from the movie Talladega Nights, who always said, “If you’re not first, you’re last!.” Which is just silly, of course.

So anyways, there I am, typity typing away for hours on end, paving away at this new site, and I realize that I haven’t answered my emails for the day. I skipped my workout. I had cut my practice time in half. I didn’t make the phone calls that I needed to, I didn’t list the items that I needed to on eBay, I didn’t balance the checking account… I hadn’t even eaten yet! For someone who LIVES by the “List,” I was severely letting myself go here. All for the sake of finishing what I started.

I’m very much into analyzing my habits, and seeking new ways to improve myself, my musicality, my business, and most importantly my productivity. And interestingly, this habitual mindset that I have learned over the course of my life actually proves to be counterproductive. I started around 5 am, and as noon was rearing its head I said to myself, “Enough. I’m done for today.”

And I hated it. I wasn’t finished yet! There were still images to crop and resize, text to paste and align, code to finish, javascript to tweak… I seriously cannot tell you how much it pained me to do this. But I did. I walked away and “started” my day. And it was a magnificent and empowering feeling. I went on to film two L.A. Bass Lix videos that day, finalized bass tracks for 4 songs on a new EP, balanced the books, did a phone interview with a local newspaper, exercised and managed to finish all of this with enough time to take the wife out to dinner when she got home from the office.

Rather than just getting one thing done yesterday, I managed to do much more, and it’s because I cut myself off from the “tunnel vision” that I’m so used to. I don’t know if you experience this at all, and maybe I’m just talking to myself here, but sometimes it’s SO EASY to focus on the one thing that you miss out on everything else. Sometimes you think you’re keeping up when really you’re just falling behind. It’s hard to do, but you need to draw a line for yourself; your breaking point. Your “enough.”

How much time is enough? How much money is enough? How many attempts? How many failures? I have to constantly remind myself (and I HATE IT!) that at some point you need to move on and come back to it. I’ll especially do this with my practice routine. I like to practice in 45 minute blocks – any less than that and I don’t reach the point of growth. Too much more and I start to feel wasted for the day and I lose focus. But a quick 10 minute break can revitalize me and help to waken my interest and endurance as well.

So if you’re like me, and you know that if someone or something doesn’t stop you you’ll just keep going and going and going, ask yourself, “How much is enough?” If you know where the line is, you just need the willpower to stop yourself before you cross it. That part is equally as difficult for me, but I’m sure it’s something else that I’ll learn in time 🙂