We each have our own work flow – a way of doing things that makes sense in our own minds and feels most efficient and productive.
As I was packing to move, I discovered something about myself… Instead of packing one box, taping it up, and adding it to the pile, I was working on several boxes, even in different rooms, hopping from one to another. Eventually a box would be filled, taped and added to the pile. It seemed fluid to me, but I’m sure it would’ve looked chaotic.
There was a moment when I really noticed what I was doing and I realized I often work that way. And I thought the actual words, “I’m a Flitter.” I just flit from one thing to the next, eventually circling back to finish everything. I think that may be how I’m able to accomplish as much as I do. It prevents me from getting bored, which keeps me working at a nice pace, and I can dovetail projects to fill in “dead time”, like when paint is drying.
As I just mentioned, there are advantages to being a flitter, but the disadvantage is that there are often several things in the works simultaneously and it can get overwhelming.
I was talking through my home to-do list with Jeff one day and I realized my “Flitter-esque list” sounded all over the place. I stopped mid-list, realizing his eyes were glazed over and he wasn’t hearing the method that was a logical progression in my head.
“Basically, I’m just going to work on six rooms all at once.”
He nodded. “Yep, that’s exactly what it sounds like.”
“I suppose I should probably just focus on one room and finish it and then work on another one.”
“Yep.”
“Hm. But that’s just not the way I work.”
Trying make sense of your workflow to someone else can be like trying to explain to a kid in the streaming generation how to record two TV shows at once on a VCR from the 1990’s. Or when my boys try to explain Minecraft to me. It’s pointless to the explainer and the listener and, it can be pretty well assumed, that neither of them really understand it, anyway.
I can’t explain to you why I work this way, why I’m a Flitter, but I just am. For some reason, it’s easier for me to work on four things at once, bouncing between them, then to focus on one thing.
If you’re reading this and the thought of juggling multiple half-finished projects simultaneously makes you itchy, well, you just might be a “Sticker”.
The Sticker is a person who starts on one thing and needs to finish it before they can start on something else. That project needs to be finished before another project can be started. Things are done one at a time. Stickers are not jugglers. They are effective, though, because they are laser focused.
I will admit that I have to make myself Stick sometimes. I want to go Flittering off, but I need to pin myself down and finish the thing that is the higher priority or the closest to being completed. So, I discipline myself and Stick and then I set myself free again.
So, which are you? A Flitter or a Sticker?
I ? that someone else is a “flitter” just like me! ? Over the years, my husband has learned that “flitting” is the method to my madness, especially when it comes to cleaning and organizing.
I’m a flitter. My husband is a sticker.
we are, too. That doesn’t always work cohesively, however. So, mostly, I just do it.
I am most definitely a flitter. I have heard this described as multitasking, though it is not what I typically think of as multitasking (I do that too—literally two or more things at once). The people who talk about what you call flitting say that this is not as productive as being single-focused. But I don’t necessarily think so and so this post encourages me! I think we generally are the creative ones. And you certainly seem productive to me, Marian!
This is something I have observed at work – if given a numbered list of requested items, some people are Sequential (stickers?) and produce the items in order of the request. Some people are Random (flitterers) and turn in the requested information in no order whatever. Fascinating!!
#flitterteam, I’m in ! Definitly… Is that wrong, doctor ?
As a creative person I get so many ideas all the time, and at the same time I want to see them in reality so I need to use time wisely to get all ideas accomplish as soon as possible as I get new ones all the time…so I am so happy to read this from you because now I know we are several, it not only me as my husband thought. Thanks!!
This is a true trait of a creative mind. ALL of my creative friends (and myself) are flitters!!
Team flitter, but trying to be more of a sticker. My tendency is to try to get too much done at one time, get in over my head. Then I tire of whatever I’m working on and move on to something else. That is how I wound up with countless “almost done” projects that have lost their luster. Right now, I am focusing on completing as many of them as I can, so I can move forward rather than run in circles:)
Flitter !! loveit,,
Definitely a Flitter!…Keeps me from getting bored…I also love to start new things, but am not so good at finishing projects (I need to adopt some Sticker habits so I can reward myself with a sense of accomplishment instead of guilt for not finishing…lol)
FLITTER for sure! And love it that way 🙂
FLITTER!!!!! I both love and loathe that about myself lol
I’m a flitter and, just like you, I sometimes stop and stick. My husband is a sticker which can be frustrating because us flitters sometimes need them to jump in and help us when we decide to stick and they are stuck and make us wait. Then we are off flittering again!
I guess you can call me a Modified Sticker! I need to be pretty organized and focused to get things done –
being scattered is stressful, too many things end up forgotten – but have found that when I get to the middle of something (usually where boredom sets in) I need to think about the ‘next thing’. I need to have the creative side of things percolating in order to stick through the current boring stuff. I’ll make idea lists, or draw a sketch, (or write in your Doodle Book, Marian!) and it keeps me on track. I think just knowing the way our brains work is a big plus in personal productivity!
I’m commenting here because you’ve described me to a “T”. We are clearly in the minority:)
I think motherhood made me a flitter — never having enough time to really get deep into one project, I’d flit around trying to get little tasks done when time allowed. And as a result I put off the deep thought/work projects for the ones more easily achievable…I’d love to consciously change that this year, especially since my son is getting older.
Flitter girl here! I drive myself crazy sometimes! ?
yes! I drive myself nuts at times.
A sticker most definitely …….??
I’m such a flitter but like you, sometimes I have to lock myself in one room to finish things 😀
Team flitter all the way!
I’m definitely a flitter and my house shows it. I have a studio, lucky me, but right now my projects are everywhere!!Eile
Eileen,
I too have a studio and currently have projects EVERYWHERE. So glad to read I’m not the only one! I think I should show this post to my husband 🙂
Having just moved, I am like you. I did many boxes at once— I felt it was more efficient as I moved things from room to room packing like things together.
I’m a Sticker and that’s probably cemented after 21 years as a secretary, but I just realized, from your statement about getting bored, that yes I do. I do get very bored when I stick with one thing for a long period. Take quilting, for instance. When my children were nearly grown, I went back to quilting, and I quilted and quilted and quilted. And then I was so sick of it, I quit. I think I’ll work on becoming a Sticker-Flitterer!
My mind flitters most of the time….until it lands on something that makes me a sticker.
We were JUST talking about this at work this morning; personal work styles and how just because one person works one way (flits or sticks) it doesn’t mean the other person works that way as well as the other. I’m a flitter – good post!
Definitely a FLITTER! I jokingly call it my form of ADD – Attention Deficit Decorating !!
I am also a flitter….there are just so many ideas in my head and new projects to begin. 🙂 FLITTERS UNITE!!
Ha. I’m a “Flicker”: When I need to stick (packing boxes, one at a time, for moving house: I’ve moved house 24 times in 41 years; yep…military spouse) or when I am rehearsing music, I am laser focused. I do One Thing, ad nauseum, until it is completed and/or I am satisfied with it for now. But when I am watching paint dry, or working on something more staged, more complex, I fit other things into the down moments, like a quick load of laundry or a chapter or two of a book I am reading for a class I am taking. I’ve been known to rearrange furniture whilst baking a cake whilst waiting for paint to dry. Then there are times I rehearse the same two musical measures over and over and over and… for hours on end until they are close to what I hear in my head, not seeing or hearing or paying attention to anything else around me. So, yeah, a “Flicker”. I do both.
A “flicker”! That is awesome. The hybrid. 🙂
I think anyone who has been a stay at home Mom for any period has been a Flitter out of necessity. At work I was a Sticker just cause I could be. But at home, I Flit Flit Flit.
Flitter and occasionally a quitter. But I’m trying to better with that. Sometimes though, I just loose interest and can’t go back. The new ideas are always so bright and shiny!
Oh my, this made me laugh!
All flitter no sticker… my husband hates it. Luckily I work for lots of flitterers so it works. lol
I’m Team Flitter … and I love it. I don’t get bored this way!
I am definitely a stickler. My mother always said not to start another project until the first one
is done. Her other thing was it is all in the details……….Although today I am working on two simple
knitting projects. One is very boring so having two breaks it up.
I’m most definitely a flitter, and thanks for finally giving me a word to describe that one thing that we try to explain but no one understands Lol
Team flitter all the way & I have to say I feel encouraged by this post and all the other flitter-ers out there 🙂
Wonderful blog post! Sometimes I feel like the crazy one because I have so many different projects going at the same time. I am a flitter but I really want to be a sticker sometimes because flitting around to so many different projects is overwhelming.
I am a Flitter in all aspects of my life. I cannot work on just one thing at a time. It drives my mom (a Sticker) insane when she’s with me. My current roommate would think that I had abandoned a task and she would sometimes complete it for me. Now she knows to just leave it and I will circle back around to it in time.
I like the word “flitter” over multi- tasker.
I would consider myself one.
I did not know we had a choice! How else would we accomplish so many things in a day? Flitter Flitter Flitter
I’m definitely a flitter and drives my husband crazy who is definitely a sticker.
No artistic talent, organized in my mind before I begin the task, and I go NUTS watching or working with YOU Flitters. I love each of you but go do your flit and I will do my stick. Different things for different people.
Count me as definitely a STICKLER! I was taught at an early age to be a stickler.
I’m a flitter married to a sticker. I’m ADD, he’s not. I’m creative, artistically visionary… he’s not. I think there may be a scientific explanation!?!
Have you heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the personality type theory? You “Flitters” might be “Intuitive-Perceivers” and you Stickers may be “Sensing Judgers” — I recommend the inventory to those of you who want to understand themselves and others better.
So of the people that gravitate to your blog, there are about 3 stickers and 100 flitters so far!! Hmmmm….
Does “like” attract “like”?
One more for flitter
I am a Flitter. I currently have several sewing projects going and I hardly ever completely clean one room (unless it is the bathroom) before working on cleaning another space. I am very glad to see that I am not alone. 🙂 As some others have said, I think that being a stay-at-home mom of little ones can cause Flitting. It is not always possible to finish something before having to clean up a spill or change a diaper. That being said, my “baby” is 35 & dad of 5.
I’m a flitter, i live by myself, but sometimes when i explain something to one of my sons i can tell it is more than they can focus on. I laughed at the conversation with Jeff. Have a great day Marian.
Flitter here….feel like I am working SMARTER, not HARDER when I go from one site to the next, taking care of what I have to or can lay my hands on right at the moment and then when something takes me into another room or location I take care of everything right there in front of me….to some I am sure it does sound crazy but I am able to work FAST and accomplish a ton of stuff in a pretty short amount of time. Never analyzed it before….thanks for the illumination….(I THINK..:-)….
100% certified, dyed-in-the-wool FLITTER!! hahaha, I didn’t really think about until just now. Definitely pros and cons for it.
i am a flitter howelse will i have a aha moment anyother way and it all works and it all gets done
This makes me feel SO MUCH better. My husband is a “sticker” and, although he doesn’t say it, he does not understand my thought processes in getting things done. Now I can tell him it’s because I’m a “flitter!”
I’m an oddity; I feel like I’m a little of both, depending on the situation. My job as a school health assistant is by nature “flittery”. I have several things that need to be done, but have to stop and start as students need a bandage or other things. On the home front I tend to be a flitter, multi-tasking quite a bit. I think it can be more difficult to be efficient when you’re a flitter, but sometimes the nature of the task at hand requires it.
Definitely a Flitter! My brain flits constantly from one project to the next – am I the only one who thinks about next year’s Christmas decor while decorating for this year? My husband, on the other hand, is definitely a Sticker. If we’re halfway through a project and I mention a new idea I have …. let’s just say I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut 🙂
I am both a flitter and a sticker…depends on what I am working on and the deadline…does that make me a ‘flitstick’?
I think I am mostly a sticker, but I flitter regularly to fit more things into my time. That way I can get something done while waiting for the “paint to dry” like you said. I do get overwhelmed if I am trying to flit between too many things at once, but I can also get stressed if I haven’t been able to finish something that I meant to “stick” to. HA! I guess I’m a combination.
I am a flitter and every one else in my family is a sticker. It can be very frustrating at times as I don’t think sticker’s think that flitter’s get much accomplished. We do though, just in our own way.
Flitter for sure. Relate to all the comments on how and why. It’s a beautiful thing. ! Keeps the mind in constant motion . Creative juices ever flowing .!
I’m a FLITTER! I found it worked fine when I was younger. Sadly, NOT SO MUCH as I get older. My husband is so focused when he works his foot could be on fire and someone would have to point it out. I try my very best, but……..I’ve also been accused of “POPCORN THOUGHTS!” Sometimes I feel like a FISHER PRICE Popcorn Popper being pushed by a 2 1/2 year old toddler. But, like that little kid, I’m having fun while I’m doing it! And there’s just SO much to see along the way! Just wish I could find all the stuff I’ve strewn in my path!!!!!
FLITTER, it works for me, and stuff gets done, which amazes some people.
Love it! My grown son calls it “Squirrel”…..as I get distracted, like his dog, by a squirrel somewhere…then I go after that. LOL!!! I do seem to get things finished though. However, I like “flitter” better!
When I was younger, I was much more of a Sticker, but now I’m a little more Flitter.
So now I’m more or a Flicker or Stitter.:) I do read another blog (mentioning no names) and she is so much a Flitter that it drives me bananas. So you aren’t that bad! 😉
I am a flitter and my husband most definitely a sticker… My style tends to drive him crazy…. but after 37 years he is getting used to it. Opposites attract right?
Flitter-guilty. Will start in one room, take item to another room, do something that room, take item to ‘Door #3’, do something that room, and so on. Recently worked all day long, looked around, every room looked like a bomb went off. My before was definitely better than after. However, next day, house looked like photo shoot British edition Country Living magazine. My fave publication.
Flitter all the way!
Hmmmm….. I just loaded two Craig’s List chairs into my craft room where I have 5 projects already underway…. I would have to say “FLITTER!!!!” It strikes me that we ”Flitterers” may be drawn to your blog not just for style similarities, but the kindred spirit!! God Bless Us!!! Or as my southern grandmother would say, “Bless your little well-meaning hearts!!!”
I am a flitter, and I think that does come from the creative process, and having a lot to do. (like shows). I have a time frame, so I try to start a lot and finish a lot in a given time. I can start a lot of things, and they don’t all finish at the same time, because of different processes.
If I am in my home, I rely on a timer and a list…crossing off is the best!
Like Laura, I’m a Flicker:-) Right now, I’m eating lunch while reading this blog, while doing laundry (one load in the dryer, another soaking), while gathering receipts to work on budget. Then, I’ll switch gears and do only the budget. After that, only Bible Study. It will all be done by the time my hubby gets home from work.
Thanks for the laughs and “thought-provokement”.
I’m a flitter. I quilt, so I usually have 3-4 quilts going at a time, I also rug hook in between, and fit in household chores in between. My husband is a stickler, one thing at a time.
A “Flitter”. I think because I am a nurse having to accomplish several various tasks at one time for 45 years has made me like this. Even when I am doing yard work it is the same way. The modern term as someone has already stated is multitasking. And I do finish all those tasks!
I like to refer to it as multi tasking. So sometimes Ive straightened everything and cleaned nothing.
Great post Marion. I’m a flitter which sometimes leaves a few projects unfinished for longer than I plan. 🙂
I’m both. I’ve found I get more finished if I do some here & when my back hurts, sit down & do something else. Then back to more physical projects. I love cross-stitch but I refuse to start a more than one BIG project at a time. Altho I’ll work on smaller ones for the satisfaction of finishing something. I think it’s mostly determined by what needs done. I get there eventually.
Yes, Jeannie, you and I are quite alike. I stick to a list and flitter from thing to thing. But I limit myself to 5 projects at a time. And moving from project to project keeps my body from getting achey and fatigued. My quilt guild has a year-long goal to get women to finish 5 unfinished projects and I’m not participating because I never let myself get too far behind. If I lose interest in a project altogether, I finish it up and donate it. This is just from being raised by a STICKER mom and the realities of being a single parent. Left to my own devices I would have been a full-on flitter!
Flittering all the way! I drive my wife, who is a major Sticker, CRAZY!! But she accepts me and gets that this is just my style! Creative types seems to be more Flittery!!
I’m definitely a flitterer! I just didn’t know that was a thing….much less that I wasn’t alone! Thanks for explaining it so perfectly! 😉
A flitter to the nth degree. I have flittered over two states before. I have a project in my mother’s garage in KY and I just reorganized my fall stuff last week. Here’s to us flitters!!!!!!!
Yep, self identified flitter, but I’m not a procrastinator when it comes to due dates.
I would say when I was a nurse and later managing a household of seven It was a necessity to multi task. As I have aged some I thoroughly enjoy being a sticker. I like to plan, focus and finish a project. There is a lot of enjoyment in moving a bit more slowly through life for me!
Definitely a flitter. And I am so glad you didn’t say this was a bad thing. It seems like a sticker would accomplish more but it is just not me. Hey, I’m happy I know that I am not alone. 😉 Love your blog.
Yup!! A flitter! No shame in it either. Though I do have my disciplined times to fixate on a task. So proud too?!
I’m a sticker with a tiny bit of flitter mixed in. Painted the kitchen cabinets in a weekend…. kept working on them until they were finished. But very restless when I don’t have a “project” to work on.
Variety makes the world go around? I think so! But procrastinators drive me nutty. :-/
Flitter here!!!
So happy to see so many of us like-minded and acted folks. YAY!!!
My husband…a Sticker!
Flitter here!!!
So happy to see so many of us like-minded and acted folks. YAY!!!
My husband…a Sticker! A bit of a mismatch, but somehow we make it work!
I am a flitter !!! Love this post
I enjoy flittering more than sticking! But as our house is small I am trying to focus on finishing most of one room at a time. And over the last few years I have also worked out that I am a lot less stressed when I have less projects going on at the same time. Still can come up with ideas for multiple projects at at time. I just hold back on the implementation for a bit.
The jury is in….definitely a Flitter. But I would also need to add I am a procrastinating Flitter. Great ideas that take me way too long to complete. Your blog has helped motivate me. Thank you!
I love how your posts make me think and smile. I so look forward to reading them. Often it’s the only reading for pleasure I do in a day. I am a flitter for sure. I am an elementary school librarian or a library media specialist. I have many balls in the air at once at any given time. Whether it be curating books, helping student select books, tech support with iPads (we’re one to one; over 400 iPads), books fairs, spelling bees, newsletters, counting & rolling coins for my coin drive, PR with our many social media accounts, or spraying Lysol everywhere due to this crazy flu season we’re having. That doesn’t even address my remodeling efforts at home where there’s always a project. Although I do love the feeling of starting and completing a project, my life is full of them. I never really liked the feeling when I was younger, but now I suppose I’ve done it so very long, I know no other way. God’s Blessings to you and yours!
I have about 10 projects going at one time, so that makes me a flitter!!!!!?
I’m an avoider.
I am very creative and would say I’m both, depending on what I feel about what I’m doing. But, I’m a little Obsessive-complusive, so lean more often to being a Sticker.
I am a sticker. I am a person who likes to get a project done. I realize I am alone for the majority are flitters. I’m involved with a group of friends that are doing an organization challenge. They can’t understand how mine is done and they are taking days to jump from one thing to the next.
Flittering is fine if you can eventually get all the things done but mostly I see people never finishing what they start out to do.
Whatever works….
Totally a Flitter and i packed that way when we moved last summer. Made sense to me as objects would surface that fit the empty space left in the box. I also approach projects that way which again makes sense like you said waiting for paint to dry, or the husband to hang or move something or inspiration to strike. But I have to keep my rooms/projects on a step by step Master List so I can see the overall picture or it makes me feel unfocused or messy like my hair isn’t combed!
Had myself tested for ADD (turns out I’m not), now realize I am a flitter. Multiple projects always in process and move forward for a bit on one before switching to another. Drives my husband crazy!!!
just realized I also read books this way – different genres, depending upon my mood. Hubby is very linear – but to me it is the same as watching different TV shows and checking in with the stories weekly.
HAHAH !! makes me laugh! you describe it perfectly,
I ALSO am a flitter.
I won’t feel so guilty for being the way I am any more now that I see so many other flitterers. lol
Thanks Marian!
All this time I never thought of it by name. But it’s me definitely . I moved recently and noticed I had half empty boxes in each room. But since I did it all by myself, there was a method to it all. That way no one could help me. But I accomplish so much more my way. I’ve never been “bored” in my life. I don’t time for that!
Definitely a Sticker here! Unfortunately, life is not linear most of the time, and I often end up having to flit between different tasks required of someone who is a part-time employee, a wife, and a small business owner at the same time. No wonder I feel tired most of the time!
STICKER and proud of it. I’m an IT person for 45 years and analytical by nature so I process one thing at a time to completion. Required in IT! Unless some ‘flitter’ forces me otherwise. Opposites attract – that’s why I like MMS!
I’m a flitter too. I always thought I was ADD or just trying to avoid a work project but had to do it my way to avoid boredom. It’s great to be part of a
distinguished group of flitters.
Definitely a flitter! My half-finished projects are always all over the house, but I work best this way! I too, think it is because I can bore of a project easily and need a little break from it, but it is also so effective while I am letting glue/paint dry, or simply trying to decide which direction I want to take in the project!
My problem with being a flitterer is that I don’t remember what I was doing . . . So I guess I should take inspiration from you and make a list of what I am working on so I will go back to it.
Thank you for defining! I now can explain this concept to my husband, who too glazes over! There is hope for me…yay!
I am most assuredly a Flitterer! I’m that in how I do things as well as conversationally! I can have 5 conversation topics going and eventually they all get wrapped up! It’s just how I roll, I guess! It drives other people nuts, but those who love me roll with it!
I am a Flitterer and have been trying for years to make myself into a Sticker…..it’s not working! Now I know why…its not me! I am going to embrace my inner Flitterer from this day forward! Thanks for the permission to be me….
OHMYWORD! I call myself a Flitterer all the time…seriously I just kept thinking something was wrong with me and that everyone else did life better! Thank you for this most encouraging post! I love what Colleen said…Thanks for the permission to be me….
Dear Sweet Marian,
Thank you, Tank you, Thank you for explaining me better than I could.
Just last week I was trying to explain to a friend about my seemingly haphazard method of attacking chores.
Well, it is what works for me! If I had to stay with one task for any length of time, I would feel overwhelmed.
Thank you for tagging me ‘A Flitter.’
I will wear the badge with honor.
Keep creating, oh guru of all things creative.
Bess
I wonder if all of our Flittering allows the Stickers both time and privacy to fully concentrate on one thing at a time? Somebody has to be putting out the small fires, thinking ahead, making our homes cozy, happy and healthy places to be…?
Marion,
As a fellow artist and home decor enthusiast, I had to laugh at your perfectly rational column today.
I, too, am a fellow flitter, more than happy to run back and forth on different projects. We can’t help it, you see, as artistic people are right brained. There are really good books on the subject (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – on Amazon) you’d probably enjoy reading….in between painting, sewing, and cooking of course!
Thanks for the wonderful articles and for sharing your projects with us all.
I am such a flitter. I read seven books at a time. I start putting away silverware from the dishwasher and then start putting food away, dishwasher still waiting, and suddenly I’m in the laundry room folding socks. What? It’s a bit of madness, but it seems fluid to me. That said, I’ve been trying hard to single-task lately, and I’ve noticed it has a pronounced affect on anxiety. I’ll always be a flitter at heart, but I’m committed to developing at least some minimal sticking habits. 🙂
“suddenly I’m in the laundry room folding socks. What?” I don’t usually laugh out loud – literally, but for that one, I did! Thank you for the laugh. I guess it is so funny to me because it reminds me of myself, and I’ve never thought anyone else could have this crazy phonemena!
Just the other day I was thinking why I have so many half finished projects and now I have a name for it. Flittering gives me permission to step back and assess what I’m doing and edit or change things. We like to think outside the box to keep things fresh and new. I’m glad that I discovered you.I love your pictures and ideas.
I’m a flitter and my sister and husband are stickers. I always believe I get nothing done but then my sister comes over and is amazed at what I’ve done. My husband does not see any logic in flittering and over 21 yrs of marriage I’ve adopted his belief to my self esteem detriment. I think I’ll start thinking more about the pros of flittering once again now that I’ve read this. Thanks Marian