In 2007, I realized I am not particularly good at prioritizing what time I have available. In true geek style, over the Christmas break I looked at all the recent time management fads to ensure I picked the laziest/easiest/geekiest (pick two), and found 43 Folders, which is based upon a slightly older – and dead tree form fad – Getting Things Done (GTD). The only downside to this particular fad is the fan boys are positively frothing at the mouth, which is what scared me off Python and Ruby on Rails. Rabid adherence is never a good sign. However, the things they want you to do are pretty simple, which is what attracts me to it.
43 Folders is a bit structured for this unstructured procrastinator. With procrastination, it’s not about “doing X now, but sometime in the future”. As any true procrastinator knows, there is an infinite range of substitute activities instead of “doing X now”. So don’t think I’m lazy, for I’m not. I just don’t achieve as much of the things I actually care about as I want. And with married life and a new daughter in a new country, the time I have available is dramatically reduced to when I was a bachelor cat slave back in Melbourne.
So far, I’ve:
- Cancel Something I’m no longer on the OWASP Board. I have totally given up the idea of writing another book for a while. I’m seriously thinking about giving up updating the next edition of the OWASP Guide as it’s just as much work (if not more) than writing a 300+ page book from scratch
- Replace a Project. I’ve picked a few things I love doing, and I’m going to find ways to do these first instead of things which interest me less. Obviously, family time comes first, but in what time I have remaining, my life should be fun and enjoyable. There’s no point in busting a gut to do something I don’t really enjoy. I’ve still yet to really do the maths to work out what makes me happiest, but once I do it, there will be a few more departures
- Time to declare DMZ E-mail Day (again)
So today, it’s DMZ E-mail Day on my renewed quest for Inbox Zero. I’ve archived all my work and personal e-mail for 2007. If you haven’t got a response from me for something, it’s time to re-send.
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