Do more of less

The most valuable lesson of Kanban is to limit work in progress. At the personal level, this jives with studies showing that humans suck at multitasking.

This is a hard lesson for me: My life is littered with the detritus of works begun, works planned, resources squirreled away against a future that rarely comes back to them.

A messy desk or hard-drive becomes an oppressive labyrinth: one sits down for a purpose, only to have all one’s energies dispersed for nothing down the forking hallways of might-have-beens.

Facing this honestly is terrifying: It means admitting one might never pursue that avenue, never chase that morning’s dream. It means confronting the brief spark that is human life; no, that’s not what frightens: rather, the dark that follows, as persistence of vision gives way to vanishing memory, and one’s name and deeds fade forgotten.

***

Please forgive my messy desk; the dark is waiting, and I would but close my eyes a while longer.