You don’t have to do it all

As I type this, I’m into the last 2 hours of my flight home from Las Vegas, having spent six days there for #data19, Tableau’s annual conference.

Talking to some of my old and new friends and reflecting onthe week in Vegas made me think there is a need for a little reminder. A reminderthat you don’t have to do it all.

In the next few days you will see a lot of people bloggingabout their experience at Tableau Conference, recapping what they learned, whomthey met, what they did and what they’re ‘taking home with them’. You’ll alsosee a lot of resolutions and plans by people for building their skills andgrowing their network between now and the conference in 2020.

I love reading those blogs and learning about each person’sexperience at TC. At the same time, I know that being surrounded by all thisenergy and enthusiasm can feel like a lot of pressure to live up to thoseexpectations and to almost ‘compete’ just to keep up with what everyone else isdoing.

You don’t have to, it’s okay to not do it all.

As someone who regularly overcommits and overextendsherself, I have come close to burnout several times and thankfully I am learningfrom those ‘close calls’ and paying better attention to how I spend my time andenergy. But I know full well how it feels when you think you are not doingenough even though you are doing all you can.

I am sure that TC inspired you a lot. It’s almost impossiblenot to. There is such a buzz, such an energy and excitement everywhere, youlearn a lot, you meet people, you hear their stories and you participate in allsorts of data related activities that inspire you to implement them back homewithin the companies where you work.

We had around 1600 people join #MakeoverMonday last Tuesdayand it felt extremely energizing to see so many of you interested in ourproject. Of course, I would love to see a surge in participation as well as new‘Makeover Monday initiatives’ popping up around the globe.

But there were also other sessions people attended andbetween Makeover Monday, Workout Wednesday, Sports Viz Sunday, Viz for SocialGood, IronQuest, Project Health Viz, Data Plus Women, Tableau User Groups,Braindates, hackathons and meetups – well, where do you even start?

You know that you have the freedom to choose what to do andI want to add a reminder here that you also have the permission to not do itall, because sometimes it helps when someone else says publicly that it’s okayto choose your own adventure, even if everyone else is doing it differently.

You can commit to all the social projects, start a new TUG,participate in every Ironviz Feeder and spend a day each week teaching childrenabout data. Amazing! But realistically, you will run out of steam very quicklyand I’d hate for people to then abandon their engagement altogether because it wasall too much.

So, I want to suggest a few ways that help me keep the buzz alive,keep energized and engaged without overcommitting myself and stressing myselfout.

Write some notes

I received a little moleskin notebook from a customer duringTC and funnily enough I was looking for a notebook right at that time, so itwas an extremely practical gift to get.

I am a big fan of writing notes by hand. I write down ideasand stuff I plan to do and with this notebook I will start planning out theimportant stuff for the next few days, weeks and months.

Right now I have a lot of ideas for #data20 and the things Iwant to change there with regard to Makeover Monday, the way I approach conferenceand some of the stuff I would do differently when it comes to my/our role as asponsor at the event.

Writing down notes in no particular order helps me collectmy thoughts and get them out on paper. I prefer pen and paper because I havespent so much time staring at screens this week and it also commits stuff tomemory better for me when I handwrite it.

Consider the value of things

I don’t like the phrase ‘I’m busy’. Yes, I typically have alot of stuff to do at any one point, but to me that is simply the nature ofworking and filling my days with the things I love.

To me ‘I’m busy’ always sounds like I’m doing a lot of stuffbut not necessarily the right stuff. So whenever I get a chance over the nextfew days and weeks, I try to focus on value. It is easy to get swept up in theexcitement and ‘sign up’ for lots of extra initiatives and activities. They arealways valuable but sometimes not in the way I need them to be right now.

I know I would gain a lot of value from participating inWorkout Wednesday, but I can’t commit to it at this point, because I have anumber of projects that I am about to start that will take up my time andfocus.

I know that equally, I would love to participate in anIronviz feeder to challenge myself, but I have not managed to free up the timein the past.

And it’s not just about time. For me it is also about value.These projects deliver massive value to the community but the value I can bringto people is not as much in building a viz as it is in supporting others intheir process of learning, developing and building their network.

The same holds true for Makeover Monday. I love leading thisproject and seeing it grow. You have probably noticed that my weekly submissionsare fairly simple. That is by necessity and also because I like simple.

The value I bring to Makeover Monday is not in the vizzes I build.The value I bring is in the feedback I provide, the support I give and theconnecting of people that I am always keen to facilitate. So I focus my energyand time on those aspects of the project. If I could spend all my free timehelping people find each other for projects, job opportunities, exchanging ideasand creating things together, believe me, I would.

So when I feel like investing into a new project orinitiative, participating in a challenge or saying ‘yes’ to some other form ofcommitment, my process always involves at looking at the value of it. Not justthe value to myself but also the value to others. I get a real kick out ofhelping people and I want to maximize my ability to do that. My day has only 24hours, so I need to spend them wisely. I cannot do everything and that is okay.

Having screen-free time

It is very easy to spend countless hours in front of ourscreens, working with data, building visualizations, blogging, watching videosand webinars. Those are all great ways to engage and learn and develop ourskills.

For me, though, it is so important to spend time away from mycomputer and my phone. Because it helps me to love what I do.

Distance makes the heart grow fonder and so does takingbreaks from ‘playing with data’. It helps us return to our projects and ideasrefreshed and energized.

Screen-free time doesn’t mean we’re not part of thiscommunity. Something I really enjoy is meeting my mentees for lunch and we talkface-to-face (whaaaaaat?), we share food and ideas and I get to help themdevelop their personal and professional skills. I also hear about the thingsthey find challenging and the stuff that excites them and in turn I learn somuch.

Spending time in nature, admiring the beauty that surroundsme and enjoying some solitude is equally energizing for me. Whether it is mybike commute, a run on the weekend or just walking to the supermarket, it’sgood to switch off from the digital world regularly so that it doesn’t become adrain.

Setting realistic goals

Coming home from conference can feel a little like the firstof January where we’re fully motivated and eager to commit, start on and crushall our data-related goals. We’re going to build technical skills, soft skills,we’ll network, do public speaking, engage in social impact projects and ofcourse we will watch ALL the sessions we missed.

Kudos to you if that’s what you will do. Just know that it’sokay to pace yourself.

My goal is to firstly make a plan for the things I can improveover the next 11 months. How can I improve Makeover Monday as a project? Howcan I make it more useful and helpful for more people? How can I make theMakeover Monday LIVE session at #data20 run more smoothly?

How can I better allocate my time during #data20 so thatinstead of a jam-packed meeting schedule I have the opportunity to attend a fewmore sessions? How can I support my team in being even more prepared?

It’s those questions I want to tackle first.

Next up for me is connecting with people I met. Doing thisas a second step gives them a bit of time to ‘arrive at home’ before I reachout and it gives me a chance to collect my thoughts before contacting them.

And in third place is then the stuff that I want to do formyself, such as building technical skills, engaging in projects etc. And again,it must be realistic. Makeover Monday is my biggest commitment and one that Iam not prepared to drop. So anything additional needs to fit around it.

If it helps, maybe write down your goals and put a timecommitment next to each point to see what you can realistically achieve.

You don’t need to tell everyone about it

I am a huge fan of this community and I love theconversations that happen all the time. From personal experience with socialmedia I also know how draining it can be to feel like you have to shareeverything you’re doing and seek ‘social approval’.

Three years ago, I deleted my Facebook account because itgave me no joy and instead it robbed me of my energy and instead filled my daywith noise.

In March this year I deleted my Instagram account and over1700 pictures I had published over the course of several years. Not only did Instagramtake up too much of my time, scrolling through a feed of people’s perfectlives, but it also made me feel miserable at more occasions than is healthy andit made me take pictures for the sole purpose of sharing them on the app,rather than because I wanted to take a picture.

So with Facebook and Instagram gone, I saw much more clearlyhow stressful, annoying and draining it can be to have a social media tool thatencourages sharing to the point that we feel this constant obligation to ‘reportto our friends’ what we’re doing, whom we’re doing it with and how much we loveit. Even if we don’t.

Everyone can do as they please, so don’t feel like you haveto take the same steps as me. What I want to encourage you though is to shareonly what you’re comfortable sharing.

It is fairly easy to share a viz you have built on Twitter.But if you’d rather not share it publicly, that’s okay too. The community lovesseeing everyone’s work but if you’re not quite ready yet, take your time.

It’s also not compulsory to share your ‘post-conferencecommitments’ online. Yes, doing so can be encouraging for sticking with yourresolutions but I know that it can result in a stressful experience. It’s fineto simply do the things you want to do and plan to do and share those (or don’t)rather than talking a lot about it.

Those introverts

Hopefully during TC you had the opportunity to see SusanCain’s keynote on the ‘quiet revolution’. Susan shared research findings and manyrelatable stories and ideas about introverts and extroverts.

I always considered myself an extrovert and I am certainlysociable and outgoing, but in the past few months I have discovered more andmore that I have a number of introvert tendencies.

Ahead of TC I watched Susan’s TED talk and read a couple ofher articles. Following the keynote I did the online quiz on her website and –tadaaaa – it turns out I am an ambivert and as much as I enjoy socialsituations, they can also be overwhelming at times.

I have come to value quiet time and solitude for gettingthings done, focusing and for getting into a flow state. I can’t do that when I’msurrounded by noise and physical or mental clutter.

Hearing Susan put many things into words and cleardescriptions encouraged me to write this blog. I know us extroverts (and theextroverted sides of ambiverts) can get a bit ‘loud’ and overbearing for thosewho work differently, who want to take their time to work things through ontheir own before sharing it with the world – if they want to share it at all.

I also know that when we’re ‘loud’ and active andever-present on social media with our ideas, commitments and all the stuff wedo, it can feel intimidating, exhausting and maybe even discouraging.

But I don’t want people to feel discouraged just becausethey have a different style or a different pace. And that is why I felt thispost was necessary.

We are part of a caring and giving community, one that has alot to offer and that is full of smart people. There is A LOT you can getinvolved in today, tomorrow, next week and over the next 11 months.

Please know that you level of engagement and the commitmentsyou might want to make are up to you, regardless of whatever everyone else isdoing.

It is okay not to do it all.