Four-Eight-Four [dot org]

Over the past weekend, I was sick off an on (mostly on, unfortuantely). I’m not sure if it was simply act two of what I had the week before, or something entirely new … but regardless, it prevented me from enjoying the holidays as much as I would have liked.

I missed much of my daughter’s performance in our church’s Christmas program. Granted, it wasn’t much of a performance, as she played Jesus as an infant … but she reportedly provided all the appropriate sound effects. Makes me wonder exactly how much of a ‘Silent Night’ it was in reality …

I even missed being able to help "put the Mass back in Christmas" at First Lutheran’s Christmas Day service because I developed a coughing fit while driving over. Bummer … I’ve developed quite the appreciation for Christmas Day services since becoming Lutheran, and this is the first one I’ve missed in several years.

Oh well … such is life.

Being sick over the holidays did, however, have one positive aspect. I had lots and lots of time to think … because most of the time, I didn’t even want to touch the computer. And … I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the big mess that my (business) life is in right now.

Now, I don’t mean that I’m about to go bankrupt, or anything of the sort. Frankly, the last six months have been the best I’ve had since I struck out on my own a little over a year and a half ago, with my gross profits slowly growing each month without a serious increase in expenses.

Rather, the mess is related to my being organized. The main problem is that my short-term memory rates a -3 on the age-old one-to-ten scale.

Just to give you an idea of how bad my memory is … on Christmas Day, my wife sent me home (from her parents’ house) to get some cream gravy I’d frozen the last time I made chicken-fried steak; she wanted to use it with the Christmas meal they were preparing. By the time I got home (a ten minute drive), I couldn’t remember what exactly she had sent me for, so I called and asked "Am I supposed to be bringing the baking powder or the baking soda?"

Yes, I had completely forgotten "gravy" and had managed to insert two completely unrelated items into the mental slot where gravy should have been. That, my friends, is my short-term memory at its best. Sad, isn’t it?

Couple that with the fact that I’m juggling a couple of large projects, a handful of minor projects, the need to keep my business expenses and records in order, and umpteen other business-related tasks … and you have a big mess wherein I wake up, sit down at the computer, fly by the seat of my pants all day, and then fall asleep as I think of all the things I forgot to do.

This is despite having umpteen lists of tasks scattered all over my office.

I really need to hire an assistant, and perhaps another developer. But … I’m not financially ready for that. So, my only choice at this point is to improve my efficiency.

Efficient isn’t exactly the best way to describe how I’ve done things for the last year and a half or so. I’ve gotten things done, and gotten better at getting things done … but after reflecting for the last few days, I have to admit there’s room for improvement.

I’ve been hearing about this Getting Things Done (GTD) stuff for some time now … at least a year or two. I just haven’t spent the time to figure out if GTD would help me get organized and get (more) productive.

So, I bit the bullet yesterday, and ordered David Allen’s Getting Things Done. It shipped out today, and should arrive on January 2 … just in time to help me get a jump on starting my new year right.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.