What makes me a great professional cat herder makes me crazy otherwise
24 Jan
At one of my jobs I was managing writing the documentation for twelve (12!!!) products and doing QA for them as well as giving usability suggestions to the engineers. My boss marveled at my ability to “herd all the cats” and keep track of the loose ends. It’s not like I had an excellent project management system or something, there’s just something in my brain that keeps track of everything. I’m just “aware” of all the things I’m involved in. While this made me a great project manager I’ve realized it’s what’s making me crazy in my personal life.
People in New York are notoriously vague about making plans (a friend of mine generously says “it’s because people are just lazy, Charlene”). When I’ve followed up with people in New York, more than once people have told me they were “impressed” that I’d followed up and made the effort, so I guess it’s true. But regardless, when anything is thrown out like that, it gets put up into my head as an “outstanding task.” i dont’ like having outstanding tasks, so I like to get something put on the calendar so I can download it from my brain. But when too many vague invitations are hanging around in my brain it gets crowded and crazy, like it is now.
But I take it personally. If someone is vague about hanging out, i assume they don’t like me. But I’m sure I’m being naive.
People are busy. And they ARE lazy. I’m lazy. But I’ve spent a good chunk of my life living up in my head and not taking the time to involve other people. Now that I am, it’s disappointing to realize that getting two people’s universe’s to align to hang out together isn’t a simple thing.
