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Keeping Up

When You’ve Got Too Much Going On

 

I don’t know about you, but I feel like there isn’t much of a down season anymore. There’s a festival season, corporate meeting season, holiday season, and more — all blending together to create a full year. As a result, it seems like my to-do list for work and life only gets longer. I’ve been striving to find a better balance during the busy times to make sure I get downtime when work gets a little quieter.  Here are a few things I do during my busy times to make sure I give myself time to relax, instead of always playing catch up.

Make a Priority List.

I do this at work and home. In our industry, things pop up all the time, so my list is a bit flexible, but the goal each day is to check off more items then I add. This doesn’t always work, but I make sure to check off at least one thing every day. It also helps to make sure you meet specific deadlines too.  The list also helps me address similar things at one time in hopes to get more things done.

I practice this at home, as well. When I get home after a shift, I try to spend at least one-hour taking care of things on my list for my personal life. This can be cleaning for an hour, paying bills, etc. I try to do this each night, so these things don’t pile up. If I have a short day at work, I will try to spend more time working on these items so the days I’m exhausted its ok to skip. This helps to prevent my to-do items from piling up.

Health and Happiness

Within my priority list, I always keep items that will contribute to my health goals and happiness.  Often I will list a nap on my priority list. Funny I know, but I enjoy naps so keeping it on my list reminds me it’s ok to prioritize it. A priority list doesn’t have to include tasks you don’t like. It is a list of things you want and need to accomplish. Each person looks at these items differently.  I frequently list going for motorcycle rides or going to happy hour with friends to make sure I’m spending time on things that make me happy, just as much as tasks that need to be completed.

Say No

It’s ok to say no. When setting your priorities, be it work or home, sometimes just one more thing will not fit, so say no. At work, it may be more of a discussion with a supervisor of what they would like to see done first.  Talk about what they would like to see higher on your priority list and adjust from there. At home as long as you’ve got clean underwear, it’s ok to push off laundry to the next day. Again, here look at your list and prioritize what is more important to you, so you feel like you’ve accomplished something as not to get overwhelmed later.

Practicing setting a priority list can help you feel and stay balanced. Crossing items off each list every day will help you accomplish a lot, while also balancing work, home, health, and happiness. Remember not everything on your list needs to be a chore. Anything can go on your priority list it’s intended to help you keep up the things you need and want in mind while a lot is going on.

 

Maintenance Time

Unlike many touring engineers, June is the slowest time of year for me. Because I work for a graduate school/seminary, I follow the traditional American rounds of school semesters. July is the exact opposite, and is my busiest month of the year. But I digress. June: the beginning of summer. This is my maintenance time. Not everyone’s is in June, and not everyone’s is all at once. I often do maintenance throughout the year, but like I’ve stated, June is my down month.

Wipe Off That Dust

Dirty DeskThroughout the year, I keep a log of every issue that my technicians have: how long it lasted, who it affected, and what we did to solve it. In June, I go back through all the records and make graphs to know what problems are affecting us the most. While we do a Band-Aid fix as the problem is occurring, it’s important to develop a long-term plan to keep the issue from happening again.  Some great general maintenance tasks include disinfecting your vocal mics, dusting and fixing outboard gear and soundboards, cleaning and organizing cables, soldering that milk-crate full of busted cables, organizing your recordings – there are ten-thousand things I’m sure that could be done. This June, I’ll be spending a large amount of time testing internet connections and ordering new wireless microphones in an appropriate band.

Updating Software

Updating Software

Even if it’s one day a month, you should make time for routine maintenance to keep the quality of your equipment and work flow. Let’s say you’ve been having random RF problems. Sometimes a signal is dropped, sometimes there’s some interference. Yeah, you can quickly change the frequencies in the moment, but you really need to take some time and do a new RF scan and make sure that all your wireless channels are free from any new nearby interference (those of us that work in permanently installed buildings don’t necessarily scan for new frequencies every day).

Get Creative

This is also an excellent time to start trying new things. Experiment with parallel compression, create and play with a sub-kick mic, set up a recording chain, or create new base templates for different band styles. I’m working on making a mobile tech cart, creating teaching materials, and playing around with some studio work. There’s no reason you have to stick with the same-old, same-old. You can even get those creative juices flowing while you’re organizing your workspaces. Being creative is a part of what we do, and if you aren’t feeling the artistic side of this field you are sorely missing out. Find joy in creating.

Maintain Yourself

If you don’t work to maintain yourself and your career, you could crash and burn. Obviously you should look after your health (physiologically and mentally). We tend to work countless hours every week in pursuit of a fantastic production. I know that I often go weeks without having a day off, which I don’t mind at all, until I become continuously exhausted and I have to force myself to take a couple days to recover. You should eat right, exercise, and keep healthy relationships with those close to you.

Creating GraphicsI also think a very important part of personal maintenance is to continue our education. It all falls in with the above segments. Learning new techniques, taking new classes, getting new certifications, expanding your experiences, reading new books. You never know what the next page has to offer.

Never forget about maintenance. Keep your gear, your knowledge, and yourself as pristine and clean as possible. A little elbow grease now can save you money and issues in the future. I’d love to talk to you about what kind of maintenance you should be doing, technical or otherwise.

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