Fridays in a design practice are catch up days. All of your paperwork piles up and you file, date stamp, enter figures into logs, pay all unpaid invoices, freight bills, and verify shipping. Wire transferring money is also a Friday thing. It always feels so good to have this day to get all the loose ends pulled tight so that you enter the weekend with a clean desk and bins ready for weekend meetings.
Then life happens. The turn off guys for the sprinkler system show up. The mail delivery dude has a certified letter of new terms (better) for one of your manufacturers. The dog annoys a neighbor. The filing pile is unusually high. Faxes need to be sent remotely. A few invoices need to be paid directly and in person to avoid losing early discounting. Samples have to be returned. Checks need to be picked up to wire transfer funds to Indonesia for a pending order. Freight forwarders call from Beijing just as you are starting a phone conversation with a snag in an order.
The day kind of gets away from you, and the piles are still there. That is when you realize that you never ate your yogurt this morning, and your sugar is probably dropping too. So in my state of grace, and taking advice from one of my oldest and dearest friends, Dan Warmels, I slow down the process. I begin by finishing the frantic phone call. I put one foot in front of the other and focus on what I need to get done, and what I must get done. Remembering that sacrificing quality is never an option.
And then I realize that Friday goes until midnight, and my breathing gets slower. I actually can accomplish all of this wonderful work, without missing a beat. And the miracle happens and the work gets done.
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