During the first game of the 2014 NBA finals, Lebron James got a leg cramp in the 4th quarter and had to quit playing. The Miami Heat lost that game against the Spurs, and eventually lost the championship (which is fine by me because I’m from Cleveland and Lebron belongs on our team anyway). It made it’s rounds as a joke on the internet but I’ve always kind held that metaphor in my mind.
Don’t cramp in the 4th quarter.
When time is about to run out, when it’s most crucial, when success or failure is on the line, you can’t cramp in the 4th quarter.
(Granted, a 4th quarter cramp wasn’t James’ fault, so I’m not blaming him for the team’s loss).
It’s the second fiscal quarter of the year now and I have my Q2 goals all set up (basketball pun intended). I’ve talked about how I set goals before, now they’re just micro-defined and ready to be chipped away at. In order to help me better manage life + relationships + goals + actual day job and everything in between, all while staying sane (who are we kidding here), I made myself a “Don’t Cramp in the 4th Quarter” sheet. The left side are just lists kind of how we use at work for product development…up next/current/holding/done etc. The other columns list common daily chores (take out the trash, grocery shop, get gas), what I wore and what I ate (because I track these things, sadly), good and bad things that happened, fitness + exercise, and money spent.
I’m not entirely sure I’ll stick to this because I already have various google calendars that already track all of these things and more…plus I have a wunderlist system going for to-dos that’s already pretty robust…but I thought I’d give the old paper thing a shot. I used to LOVE planners and paper planning but somehow life just got too crowded and busy and paper and pen (not pencil, ew) just didn’t seem to work anymore. It created a lot of double work (typing it in a list and writing it in a planner) so I just ditched the manual system altogether. Here’s giving it another go!
If nothing else, hopefully it’ll get me into the habit of actually tracking and evaluating things.
(Is it sad that I run my life like I’d run a business?)
