BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

15 Minutes

Today, I gave a quick 1 minute presentation to the VP guy in charge of the money going in and out of the college workings.  I did some prep work, printed out the info, organized it, highlighted the important parts, paper clipped it together.

I handed him the visuals, then gave him the audio along with it.

He seemed interested, but skeptical that it would be a viable option for the college due to some restrictions with specific things.  But, he took the paperwork, and would forward it on to another individual who may or may not be able to use the information.

That's pretty much the outcome I was expecting.

See, work, and life in generally isn't about getting something to work in the moment.  It's about planting seeds.  Then... working those seeds.

What I've noticed is that, things change.  Play a game of chess, take inventory of how things change on the board over time.  What was an option, or not an option early in the game, or in the middle of the game, may become something later, or no longer be some thing later in the game.

That's life.

It's about throwing things out there, seeing what sticks, remembering what's out there, and then using that stuff you did earlier, later.

Anyways, so I mean, it will be interesting to see if they decide, perhaps down the road, to use it at some point.

I'm a longrange person, and I'm a small steps person.  I have the view that little things over and over add up to big things.  This is my view for investing, but this is also my view for other things.  Like, I've been spending about an hour in the evening after work catching up remotely while I sit at Starbucks.  I also work on various other personal things.  It's interesting because an hour a night, every night, ends up being close to a whole workday worth of work.

My one coworker said to me that other day he feels overwhelmed at work.  I used to feel this way, now that I do my Starbucks nights followed by the gym, I don't.  He has the belief that we shouldn't be working outside of the normal work hours.  Clock in, clock out, and that's how much we should work.

I mean, that's true, and fine and all... But, I just don't like that feeling of being overwhelmed.  I'd rather sacrifice an hour in the evening to feel better about my days.  Could it be considered that the work place is getting more employee work bang for the buck?  Could be.  Or it could be considered that it's just shaping my work ethic for the future.  Who knows, I might get offered another job somewhere else, and they might say, "This does require some evening hours, or weekend hours" Or whatever.  And I would be like... "Oh, that's no problem".  I'm already used to it.

Another thing I decided to do some times is hang out at work a few minutes after 5.  SO, I'm done at 5 on the dot... But I decided to just kind of linger for a few minutes to see if anyone runs to the door for help.  Sure enough tonight someone came by needing help with email on their phone.  I was there till about 5:15.

The thing is though, it helps in the longer run because I'm taking care of issues and getting ahead.

Here's the thing, when I feel overwhelmed DURING the work day... Even if I don't work after the work day is over... I still feel overwhelmed and anxious, like all weekend.  I'll think about work and not be able to get anything else done, like work on music.

Instead, since I put in that extra little bit, and I'm starting to get ahead... I feel relaxed on the weekends now.  Meaning, I can focus on my personal stuff more.

It's hard to get work done during the day in general, at least for me it is, we get a lot of people who come to our door and spend a lot of time chatting.  Even our own employees do this.  Our newest employee working over in the computer lab will come over a lot and linger and ask a lot of questions.  She's new, so that's expected.  Then we usually have an intern or two and they ask a lot of questions as well because they are trying to get their learn on so that's expected as well.  It's all fine, just means that I put in an hour in the evening to keep up with the incoming requests.  No big deal really.

So, I mean, at least for me, an extra 15 minutes here or there can add up to being able to be less stressed and more relaxed.

And then as well, taking the time to lay the seeds for something that might turn into something later, but doesn't amount to much in the moment can also pay off later.  It's all about little by little and patience.