Today was a pretty annoying day I must say, but of course in every trial there is always a lesson to be learned. I was working on this site today, trying to adjust the posts so that they would display in full on the front page, yet only teasers on other pages, such as in the archives or category listings.
Unfortunately, it was proving quite difficult, and really I’ve spent most of my day working on it. I was almost done, when I ran into a little hiccup regarding comment displays, which I won’t bore you with. The point is though that this little issue really took up almost 70% of my time trying to fix.
It was frustrating the crap out of me! There comes a point though, where you ask yourself “is this worth the time and frustration?”
I’m not trying to promote a defeatist attitude here, far from it. I think it’s important to realize though when you are getting bogged down on things that really just aren’t all that important. If I think of the other things I could have accomplished with the time I was stuck on that one little thing, I would have definitely switched tasks.
Even though you are working hard, like I was earlier, you might not even be accomplishing much. I guess that’s the problem with being a perfectionist; you want to fix things no matter what the cost. It’s just not a great mindset to put yourself into.
Don’t let yourself get bogged down by the details; if you find you’re getting nowhere with something that really isn’t all that important, move on. Take a break, work on something else, put your pride aside and give it some time. Chances are you’ll be able to come back to it another day and totally knock it out in no time.
What do you do when you get stuck on stuff? Do you have trouble like me “giving up”?
If you enjoyed this article, then subscribe to my RSS feed.
I've got plenty more great posts coming up you won't want to miss!
!
Sounds like you had a bad day there. :p
Lighten up, Tim.
What do you do when you get stuck on stuff?
Take a break yo!
Do you have trouble like me “giving up”?
If it is truly impossible to achieve, then better not waste any more time on it. Time is precious!
If you learn something, I say yes it is worth it! But it sure doesn’t make the process of it any easier.
But doesn’t it feel great when you finally get over that hump and fix the issue? I’m sure there are better ways your time could be spent, but if it’s something that needs to be done (and will benefit you), then it’s worth the extra effort.
If all else fails, outsource!
It happens to all of use and to me many times.I hate to give up but sometimes i do say enough is enough and take a break away from my computer.I don’t go on to anythng else because i am so frustrated that would mess anything else up,so at least an hour break and go back and crack it.
It happens when I want to switch to another wordpress theme. But I’ll just stick to the current one for now, to avoid this feeling
I wasted my first chance at leaving my day job behind by focusing too much on a site that ended up being worthless. If I could only go back. I made up a new number: ROTI/ return on time invested. For that site: 0.
Well Tim, that happens all time, there are days when the ideas rain and others when you simply haven’t idea about what to blog. If you get stuck, just take a free day and return to the job the next one ;).
Well, at least you didn’t throw your computer at the wall or something. But we all have these type of days, but you came out with some new ideas, so that’s good!
Jay
DatMoney.com
@DTA: Probably not impossible, but definitely not worth the time. I’m sure I’ll approach it in a few days and it will be much easier
@Susie: Agreed, although I find when you get to the trial and error stage, you aren’t learning much anymore.
@Zander: Yeah accomplishing those little things that really give you trouble feels great! Sometimes though, 4 hours of frustration one day could equal an hour with a cleared mind
@Philip: I know exactly what you mean >< @Haney: Haha themes are so annoying, and don’t get me started on CSS, my nemesis!
@Stephan: It sure is tough to stay motivated when you invest so much time into things that can bring you nothing. But it’s something I’m sure every marketer, including myself, have experienced a lot of.
@Mr. Javo: It’s definitely nice to get that break, but it can be difficult to let yourself take it
@Jay: Haha who says I didn’t! … Ok I could never hurt my baby like that LOL
Thanks for commenting everyone
[...] In fact, let’s experiment right now - these are the bloggers that are the chosen ones. How many of them do you think will [...]