Context Switching: 10 ft, 10 miles, No In Between
Zooming in and out of micro and macro issues is a large part of what makes running a company difficult. Doing what needs to get done today vs working toward the bigger vision you have set forth can make you feel like your head is about to explode. It can be hard to figure out what the most important tasks are that need to be done.
The best way I have come up with to deal with this context switching is a concept of 10 feet vs 10 miles. The general idea is that 10ft in front of you is everything you can have impact on right now. These are things like the phone call or email you can make, the meeting you need to schedule to close the deal you’ve been working on, the task you need to finish in order to meet a deadline, etc.
At 10 miles is the goal or your vision for where you are going. Think of this like the horizon. You aren’t there today, you probably won’t be there by tomorrow, but you can see it. You know where it is and you know what it looks like. It’s out there waiting for you!
Within 10 feet is what you can work on. 10 miles out is what you are trying to accomplish. So what about everything in between 10 feet and 10 miles?
Don’t worry about it. Leave it alone. You aren’t there yet and it isn’t the final destination.
Everything from 10 feet 1 inches to mile 10 is added stress that doesn’t need to be worried about today. So don’t let that stuff get you down or overwhelm you. Take care of your 10 feet, keep your eye on the 10th mile, and let everything else come to you in time.
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Alex Sejdinaj is a cofounder of South Bend Code School, GiveGrove, and Code Works. He loves building cool stuff that helps people.
