A friend’s dad, an electrician, once gave me some dubious dating advice based on his knowledge of circuits. In his theory, having many parallel relationships is a more efficient use of time and resources than a having a series of relationships. If one fails in parallel, then more resources can be directed to the others without costly downtime. I didn’t follow his advice (for several reasons), and as a matter of fact, I have never really been very good at multitasking in any area. One might therefore ask why I am going down the professional path of public relations, one that — particularly at a small agency like MSR which demands versatility of its staff — was recently ranked just behind soldiers, firefighters, and pilots as one of the most stressful jobs in America. In any given day, we may have to think and write about quite diverse topics, from complex technical theory to fun things that kids will like. Some folks thrive on that diversity, but it more often gives me a headache.
The solution may seem obvious to many of you, and that is a little good old fashioned organization. The problem is, the very reason that I have anything to offer at all to this business (mainly by way of writing, as it seems) stems from my tendency to become completely absorbed by a project; to let everything but the task at hand melt away from consciousness. Hopefully there is not a fire while I am writing, or I may fail to notice. This, as one might imagine, can be a bit of a problem. Fortunately there is a solution.
One particular boon of my work for our client CPP, Inc., the publisher of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality assessment, has been developing a greater understanding of these blind spots, and their particular relevance in the practice of public relations. In my last blog, I talked about how knowing that my Myers-Briggs Type is INFP has shaped my understanding of my personal foibles. Now, it is beginning to shape my working relationships as well. As it turns out, my mentor and supervisor here at MSR, Michael Burke, shares my personality type. Knowing that we have many of the same blind spots has allowed us to develop working practices that allow us to communicate more effectively and stay on top of our diverse to-dos.
In the end, the solution for the serial-brained set is to carefully cultivate and maintain organizational techniques. There are some folks out there whose organizational ability is like a pristine wilderness landscape: perfect without intervention. For the rest of us, it takes a little more grubbing around in the dirt to do our landscaping, but the gardens of Versailles are not beyond our reach.