I’ve always considered myself well organized. Having read the book 4000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, I now think I’m too organized - to my detriment. I’ve been so good at keeping track of every to-do in my elaborate GTD-system, that I spend so much time on admin that I never get to doing the important work.
In addition, I noticed that the perfectionism I relied on when writing code is no longer serving me in my sales job. As a Business Development Representative (BDR), it’s important to crank out a lot of activity every day. Spending too long getting all my ducks in a row or polishing every email or call list is starting to hurt my performance. I find it incredibly hard to start a task if I haven’t figured out the best way to do it.
What’s the solution? I think I know:
First, I will never get everything done that I want. I will inevitably disappoint some people, and I need to learn to be okay with that. I will also have to let go of postponing to start until I have the perfect system in place: just crank out the first version and iterate on it if needed.
While the shift from data engineering to sales was extreme, and is hurting my brain, I feel I’m learning some core skills that will shape my career forever. In that sense, I’m grateful for the experience.