Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.
You cannot have productivity or time management without priorities
Tinjaw | Oct 26 2005
My problem is that I have too much Stuff TM that I want to do. I have tons of hobbies and I love to learn, be it by reading, watching documentaries, whatever. I also like to participate with various communities I am a part of. What I am coming to realize is that the main reason why I am not productive and cannot manage my time well is that I am scattered all over the place. And it's not like at work where I can go to my boss and say that I have time for four project out of these ten so choose six for me to work on. This is my personal life; my so called leisure time. Reading one book means missing one documentary which means not participating in some online game which means not working on one of my four or five hobby coding projects which means not playing one of my 25+ computer games, etc. I spend my entire day always thinking about what I am not doing. And pulling a GTD and brain dumping will not solve my problems as there is absolutely no way I can get 10% done of the stuff I want to get done. The thought of giving up hobbies because I don't have the time for them is one I can't seem to bear. How does one go about choosing Anime over PC strategy games, yoga over tai chi, electronics over philosophy, or Everquest over World of Warcraft!!! Until I make a painful decision give up whole meaty chunks of my life I drive myself crazier trying to time manage it all and I will never be productive; even if in some cases productive means finishing a science fiction novel or a module of Neverwinter Nights. 9 Comments
POSTED IN:
 Tinjaw et al., I use...Submitted by Janet Holmes on October 28, 2005 - 7:18am.
Tinjaw et al., I use a strategy I've adopted for "reading I've been meaning to do." That is, devote a season to a single topic. In the fall, I may read Dante. Over the summer, I'll catch up on the Objectivist poets. (I'm a poet & teach creative writing, so these are actually job-related as well as pleasurable efforts.) I've already signed up for a painting class for the spring, which is more of a "me" thing. (Likewise, I try to read a new book per week. Having a HPDA makes me want to track them now--I never used to.) Why not give 13 weeks to yoga, and then the next 13 to tai chi? Again, it's not about dropping yoga forever--it's about developing a relationship with it that may allow you to spend more time with it in the future (or, conversely, scratch it off as a been-there-done-that and move on). I actually DO think GTD deals with the fluctuations of life--it's built into the "review" portion. » POSTED IN:
|
|
| EXPLORE 43Folders | THE GOOD STUFF |
