5 Tasks You Should Stop Putting Off

5 Tasks You Should Stop Putting Off
Written by Samuel in Freelance Lessons

Sleep It Off

William James, the 19th century philosopher and Pragmatist, rightly noted that "nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." So in the spirit of the new year and getting things done, here are a few tasks you should stop putting off.

1. Placing Your Portfolio/Blog Online

I enjoy checking out the websites of those who comment on the blog here. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, a number of these sites have the ubiquitous "Coming Soon" tagline. Spend a few hours and get something up (even if it means being "short and sweet" to start).

2. Organizing Your Files or Email

Fonts on the desktop? Stock images in folders called "Stock3" and "Good Pics -- Keep!" Still looking for that form from the IRS that was due 8 months ago? Spend an evening re-foldering and re-organizing your files and email. Besides making future work easier, you'll find all sorts of cool stuff you forgot you had.

3. Implementing a Backup Solution

Don't be like most web workers (including me). Don't wait until after you lose your files to think about a backup solution (and then lose all your files a second time to actually implement that solution). With 500GB hard drives now under $150, you really have no excuse for not backing up your files. Just do it weekly with at least one drive you can keep off-site (remote online backup is a possible solution as well, but not really efficient if you're dealing with many large and oft-updated graphic files). Also, don't forget to backup your email and program settings as well (like FTP passwords).

4. Learning _______________

Most people (and especially creatives) would rather be actually creating "stuff" with their current skills than spending time learning new ones. This is swell if you're working with acrylics and canvas (because as far as I know, not too many advances have been made in that field for a while). However, in that ever-changing cyberscape that is called "the web," if you're not learning the new stuff, you could soon find yourself working the "boring" projects in a large, unambitious corporation. On the flip side, knowing the hot technologies ahead of your peers can open up all sorts of opportunities (as someone who "job shopped" a little this year, it seemed like every great firm was paying top dollar for any RIA developers, specifically Flex).

5. Applying For _______________

You fill in the blank. More freelance jobs. Harvard. A blog writing position. Google. Mensa. If there's any position, job, or organization that you've always wanted to taking a running leap at, why not do it this year? The worst that can happen is that they'll deny you and call you an unskilled hack, thus causing you to cry every time you see yourself in a mirror. On the flip side, you just never know what opportunities you're missing out on...I'm sure the folks that got into the Facebook offices last year aren't regretting it...

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Community Comments

Sean Hodge
12/28/2007 7:16:33 AM

Thanks for the advice. I'm from the states and livng down in Venezuela. I had one 40gb had that was overloaded with data and out of space. I recently ordered a 500gb hard drive and had it shipped down here. The drive was about $180, but after shipping costs it was all about $350.

But well worth it. I've been using it for a week and I make daily backups. Now I'm going to order another one so I can store it offsite weekly. Just in case worse case scenerio fire or theft.

I've heard Mozy is a good service, but I've had it for a month and a half and its never backed up more than 10% of what I have. I can't not work for days while it runs. And when its running it effects the speed of building websites. I'm going to cancel it. I'm sure its good for some people though, just not my needs.

My portfolio is up at connectioncube.com, but by the end of January it will have a much needed redesign completed. Its going to look really cool. I have some of the mockups done already.

Thanks for the article.

Keeshia
12/28/2007 8:19:02 AM

Very nice read, as per usual. :) All very valid points. I spent about three hours not too long ago re-categorizing my mail. It may have seemed to take forever but man, when I go to find something now it's 10x easier than it was before. Now I just have the task of doing that with files on both my desktop and laptop.

When it comes to a backup solution, like you said, there's really no excuse for not having an external hard drive. And if you're in the business of keeping lots and lots of files on record, you may as well splurge and spend the extra $100 to buy a 1TB drive for yourself. It's only $250-400 and will last you quite some time. (And if you fill up that hard drive within a year, you are officially a digital pack rat)

Cheers!

Ryan Goldman
12/28/2007 9:22:17 AM

Good suggestions, as always. For the Mac-using among us, I've found Time Machine to be quite useful as an automated file backup, coupled with SuperDuper as a complete drive clone.

If I mistakenly delete a file, I can get it back via Time Machine. If my MacBook Pro goes belly up and explodes, I can boot another Mac from my cloned drive (hold Option while starting up) and be back to work with no down time.

This method works best with one drive for Time Machine and one (FireWire drive) for your clone, but, as mentioned above, external drives are cheap. MUCH CHEAPER than apologizing to clients and doing work over again.

Grazie mille.

Sonali Agrawal
12/28/2007 10:28:14 AM

Thanks for these lovely 5 pointers which I myself indulge in. I have a 300GB External Hard Drive, which I use to backup my Laptops every month. One of my client requires some files, and my backing up my work helps him a lot.

Paul Ocal
12/28/2007 10:59:13 AM

Wow, Im guilty for the first count.

http://www.fusefusion.com

Still in the works. My problem is that I always design something I love then as I work on it, I get bored of the design and just hold it off. Maybe thats why I should get it done sooner...

Adam
12/28/2007 11:53:25 AM

I use Amazon S3 via Jungle Disk for my off-site back-up solution. $20 for the software + lifetime upgrades and it's relatively cheap per month for S3.

-A

Colleen Kulikowski
12/28/2007 7:49:08 PM

Great reminders! Thanks for reminding me to stop putting off organizing my folders! They are a mess! It will be an excellent project this weekend!

Nathan Larkin
12/29/2007 11:38:40 AM

1. I have been putting off a backup solution for quite some time. Maybe this will be the motivation i need to get it going.

2. Portfolio site boredom - I have noticed that every time i design my site and finally get it up on the web i am already bored with it. I feel as though im not the only victim of this horrific disease. Can anyone else relate?

Samuel
12/30/2007 1:03:25 AM

Well...it's good to know that other people are better than I at backing up. I've always been intrigued by online services like Mozy or cheap space like Amazon's, but I just don't know if I could bear the wait time when dealing with some larger Flash files.

I find that with organizing, biting the bullet up front and filing things correctly always seems worth it.

@Nathan -

I have the same issue with creating something and not liking it a few days later. I think with experience and years, you become more logical and less emtotional about those decisions (you begin thinking, "I can revise my site for the 8th time, or I can finish some client work and pay for my children's education"). But I don't think perfectionism ever goes away...

Cory Perry
12/30/2007 6:49:53 PM

Excellent article! Each thing you have pointed out is very important. I would say the back-up is probably one of the most important, especially if you work full-time from a notebook. You never know what can happen when your primary machine a notebook, so back it up often!

Cory Perry
12/30/2007 6:53:09 PM

@Nathan...

I can totally agree with you on getting bored with something you put up. I have that same problem as well. I currently don't even have my portfolio up right now, because I am moving over to a new platform. I am certainly looking to a more permanent portfolio, so I am really taking my time and thinking this one through!

dizzl
12/31/2007 4:10:05 AM

I am looking for a tool to organize my files.
the best would be one tool to organize all.
from bookmarks, to photos to different filetypes on my mac.
with tags and hierarchy. search etc...

is there sth?
what do you use

Henry Liu
1/31/2008 10:28:41 AM

I love the candor and blunt advice you give in your posts. I totally agree on the tip about constantly learning new technologies, methods, and just flat out learning in general. Keep up the good work, we've all got a lot to learn from each other's experiences.

Jeba
2/3/2008 8:46:19 AM

Most important thing not to put off is the To Do List :D

Lonnie
2/13/2008 12:44:25 AM

Henry,

Try Disk Order for Mac. I use Total Commander for my pc and absolutely love it! Disk Order is a mac equivalent. Helps you move through directories and subdirectories with relative ease.

Happy cleaning!

Kayla
12/27/2008 4:41:59 PM

Thanks for this. The thing I've been putting off is putting up an actual portfolio. I did get a job just showing off my current blog and the things I have on it, but for the future, I realize that it's not going to be enough.

I really appreciate all five tips, keep up the great work.

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