I believe I suffer from memory overload. I think that oftentimes, my plate is too filled to properly handle all the ideas that are moving around through my head. This is my own fault, as I regularly take on more and more.
This is both a boom and a bust to me as a person and as a professional. First, to keep it positive, the boom:
- Continuing to take on challenges keeps my work and life fresh, and constantly encourages me to take risks.
- I meet a lot of people, explore a lot of ideas, and live what I would consider, a very full life.
And now the bust:
- I tend to forget ideas, some that can be important, and most often, that are family-related.
- I feel like I am always working on something; I never seem to take much time to just “be.”
- While I work well under pressure, sometimes I end up forcing myself to stay up too late, work too long, or push myself too hard. Though I welcome failure, I don’t welcome walking away from promises of work being completed.
The great news for me is that I am aware of the good and bad that overfilling a plate brings. The bad news is that I haven’t stopped overfilling my plate (or found a new solution; like getting a bigger plate).
Instead, I’m left saying things like, “Whoops, I forgot,” which is exactly what I said to one of my supervisors the other day when I asked him about a situation that he had apparently already spoken to me about. This is a colleague who never forgets a thing, so though I can’t place when he told me the information I needed, I have no doubt that he did. This has proven to be an example of me not being able to hold onto all the information I need, which is a detriment to my success.
I know possible solutions to this issue. I can slow down, take on less ideas, and not take as many risks as I do. I can also do a better job of taking notes, removing the urge to multi-task (one of the worst things I do is sometimes engage in conversation while working on the computer; totally ineffective and bad practice), and focusing on one idea at a time.
But truth be told, I like living and working fast-paced. What’s great about this #Blog365 initiative is it forces me to think about ideas for longer than I might otherwise. This prevents me from getting into “pile on” mode, and forces me to remember, rather than making it easy to forget. I’ve got a long way to go to move away from “Whoops, I forgot.” But, I’m confident that my knowledge of this problem will help me always remember that I have to keep improving.