How to Maintain Work Momentum

July 24, 2012 by crochetkim | 6 Comments

Prior to becoming a full-time designer, I worked for law firms. If I must count, I believe that it was close to 20 years. I was a litigation secretary. Sometimes I worked on the Plaintiff’s side. I wrote thousands of petitions for a subrogation law firm. Hmmm…. subrogation. I haven’t used that word in years. I’m surprised I still know it.

Subrogation is the word that is used for when an insurance company pays you for the damages you received (if you can get them to pay), then they go after the money from the person at fault. I also worked for a defense firm on the other side of subrogation. As it turns out, most of the time was involved in car accidents, either one side or the other.

My favorite part of the job was getting a new case. There were papers to write up and file. Nothing made me happier than having a big stack of beautiful documents, nice and neat, sitting on top of a file. The Defendant’s answer, the interrogatories, etc.; all of them together in a neat package, awaiting the lawyer’s signature. It was a finished, beautiful thing that I loved to see.

I am the same way with my current career of crochet pattern writing/designing. I love to have a finished project in my hands or displayed on my mannequin. It feels terrific to have that and I will go to great lengths to get it as quickly as possible. The actual, literal crocheting isn’t the part that gives me the satisfaction. It’s the end project. And, it goes without saying, of course… A beautiful crochet lace top is far prettier than a stack of papers!

I’ve seen this described. Some people are project crocheters and some people are process crocheters. I am definitely a project crocheter. I’ve trained myself to crochet as quickly as possible so that I can “get the prize.”

I need to finish a project in 2 or 3 days. It’s a serious need because I can’t wait to see that end project. When I start the project, I am all gung ho and see lots and lots of progress. The second day, I will work just as hard and still see lots of progress, but it doesn’t seem like as much as the first day. By the third day, my progress dips even lower. Still putting in the hours, but my progress is slowing down. So what do I do? I can’t work like that. I need to get these projects out the door!

While I prefer to work on only one project at a time, sometimes it simply doesn’t work out that way. If I have several afghans, for instance, by the third day, I’m moving like molasses. I’ve learned a trick to keep that momentum going.

Let’s say I’m doing a book of afghans. I discovered that, by working on one afghan for two days, then moving on to the next afghan for two days and continuing to rotate them, I can maintain the same enthusiasm and momentum that I had in the beginning. I can finish five afghans in the same amount of time that I could have completed two if I had worked on them solely from start to finish. What a revelation!

As a crocheter, this isn’t crucially important unless you are also making lots of afghans in a short time. But, I can tell you that it was a lifesaver for me! And, at the end of it all, I have not one but five beautiful afghans and I can finally feel the satisfaction of being the project crocheter that I am.