Stayed up late last night, and feeling rather tired today as a result. Still I’m pleased to have caught up on an important task. Next time there will be less hassle if I keep things up-to-date on a daily or almost daily basis. A systematic, disciplined and regular approach to tasks has certainly meant that more gets done. And hopefully with less sleep lost in the future. Apologies to everyone who have to work with me today. I might not be all there. 😀
Tag Archives: tasks
Inbound Tasks
I got up this morning, or rather crawled out of bed this morning. I didn’t expect today to be the grandest of days. Nor did I expect today as the worst of days. I expected that for once I could relax this week, and just take it one day at a time. When I logged onto my machine this morning, I noticed first a large number of e-mails. Then the existing pile of tasks. And the message from one of my friends, that I might have a huge event to go to. A event that requires preparation, time and expenditure of financial resources. In mortal terms, I have enough to keep me busy for this entire week. And I’m a bit overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of it all. If I don’t roll up my sleeves and get to work soon, then I’m going to have a pack of snarling, salivating tasks all over me in the matter of a single day. Help.
I’m not worried, cause I can handle the load. (Assuming nothing else doesn’t pop-up.) I’m a bit cross that I’m waking up this morning, to the realization that a shitload of work is heading me way. Oh well, I need to be expedient, and hope for the best. Wish me luck.
I’ll Be Right On It
It is a bit early in the morning to come up with material to write about. And I did not get much sleep this night. Today I probably wouldn’t be able to stop yawning. And insane amounts of coffee will only keep me from trying to take a nap on the new office’s couch. All that said, I am on track with my current work: personal, professional and long-term. I’ve even managed to get to those much delayed tasks. Yesterday I restarted my coding projects. Today I will dedicate some time on building a portfolio: in writing, graphics and coding. And I really need to clear the dust off my resume too.
The key statement for expressing the feel of these past few days should be: I’ll be right on it. And I will. Things get done and on time. The only thing missing is sleep, but I’m sure that will return if I keep at it.
As an aside, I played Alpha Centauri this morning. What a difference lower the difficulty a single level makes. At the moment I’m kicking ass and taking names. I can also verify that what they say about state theory is true. It is all about power and domination over a territory. It takes incredible restraint to not exercise aggressive military power, especially when you know you can get away with it. Hmm… that should prove a great uncurrent theme in my novel.
Final aside: I have to rewrite the first chapter of my novel. I can’t adapt any of my previous writing to it, in any real degree. I can use some ideas and elements here and there, but regretably it looks like the first chapter needs a rewrite. The overall plot and characters feel strong. The setting needs some thought, since the terrain in reality does not work a 100% with my idea. Anyways, I plan on just writing the rough drafts first. Then I brace for painful edits later on.
Yet Another Morning
I’m awake and terrified. OK, not terrified as in senseless shaking. No rather I take a look at my various todo lists, and my non-empty inbox, and that brings terror in the form of urgency. I guess I should be used to that already. In the past I just ignored tasks, like one ignores imperfections. But once you get them written down and place said list beside you… then they just sit there, glaring at you all gnarly and troll-like. And the question that comes down to which do I deal with first? GTD methodology says prioritize, assign to projects, delegate and so on. Easy to say, but tasks all look alike at times. And since I decided I wouldn’t sweep things under the rug, I wring my hands trying to deal with the underlying issue.
It was a busy weekend. Plants got planted. Allergic reactions came and went. Some attempts at cleaning house occurred. Some attempts proved more successful than others. I hope no one felt ignored. I rushed around but all my own work rested on the side. And as I look at the upcoming days, and the decisions, and the work… I feel exasperated. And I’m going to be a bit older, very, very soon also adds a bit more motivation to my work.
Fortunately, I feel upbeat and positive today. I realized yesterday that one of my anxieties proved unfound, and unlikely to occur. Dealing with this anxiety should bring much serenity, peace and calm into my life. This in turn will give me more energy and help me iron those last few wrinkles in my character. Sigh… Anyways I turn to watch the sun shimmer in the steel, grey sky and I know today will be a good day.
The Challenging Trek Ahead
For lack of a better use of time before work starts, I am blogging. Or rather I am trying to wake up and be alert for the day ahead. Coffee helped revive some of dead nerves. Writing hopefully will get me thinking in a coherent fashion. I have to do this because I have a full day ahead of me.
I’ve reading a lot lately. A good amount of my reading now comes from self-help books. I’ve done a lot of digging into my own life and character. Trying to enhance the parts I and others like. Also trying to change the parts cause discord, trouble and pain. Now that I know that S. will most likely move on, I have to work on myself. So that the next time I meet someone special like S., I’ll be ready for them. This not to say that I can get just move on and feel nothing. Rather I’m getting the impression that I’m being gently nudged in that direction. Reading said books and applying them to my life is not quite all that fun. While I don’t mind challenging myself, I do mind digging around for problems, prancing them out into the light and slaying them. It feels a lot like setting your own bones without anaesthetic. But has to be done. I have a long way to go before I can be truly satisfied with myself.
Looking forward at today, I feel like I’m starting up on a long climb. Today I feel like I will climb a Mount Kilimanjaro of tasks. I feel tired already, but I feel ready to make the long trek. I could iterate my work today to you. In the end I will just be pushing forward on all fronts.
Hitting the Ground Running
Before I left for my leave, I left a bunch of thing half-done. I also had planned tasks too. But I never got around to doing them earlier. Life’s twists and turns surprise you and throw all your carefully laid plans to the wayside. Now I’m back, I can get back to them. Time to get back into the game of life so to say.
One of things I managed to get done while on leave, was writing. Right now I have two-thirds of chapter two written by hand. In the next couple of days I plan on typing up my notes. Then I’ll continue the push to get most of the novel written by the end of this month. Also I plan on rewriting my notes on another project (which I hope I can show off something tangeable in the near future). Wish me luck.
An Empty Day
I’ve been waiting for one of these days for a long time. This is the kind of day, where you ask. “So what should I do?” And the world answers, “Whatever you’d like.” I plan on calling such days “empty days”.
An empty day is not really empty. Rather these days act just like the “empty” objects in Strugatsky’s book, the Roadside Picnic. An empty in the book simply consisted of two metallic cones stuck by their bases. But their bases weren’t actually connected. Rather an empty bit of space remained inbetween. No matter what was done to an empty, you couldn’t separate the cones or push them together. The book starts when the protagonist takes a scientist to retrieve a “full empty”. An empty with something inbetween the two cones.
So today is much like an empty. Yesterday and tomorrow firmly cling to today. But since no activity defines or guides my actions today, today is empty. And I plan on making it a full day. I plan on doing this mostly by picking at little tasks here and there. Improving my lot in life, progressing forward. That sort of stuff. I wonder if more of my days could be like this. Or they all like this, and I just notice this once in a while. Hmm…
Moving Forward Again
The plugin seems to have stemmed the tide of spam. I’m quite happy in not receiving tons of e-mails daily dealing with spam comments. I’d love to get more comments from real life users. But I guess I need to write something rant worthy or brilliant. Either way, no spam is good.
I’m still catching up with all the work I left undone due to my illness. For one I need to setup a few sites for my new project in gestation. Also I need to do quite a bit of bookkeeping. Not a huge fan of keeping records. Much like anything else, I should do bookkeeping as it happens. And I try. However unlike task management, I have not found a nice, neat system that works well with me. In addition to all these housekeeping work, I need to get moving on larger projects like: getting a car and learning to drive. I should of done this last year honestly. Oh well things are moving forward. But so much needs to get done, and I have so little time.
Anyways, the next few days look busy. So expect short blog posts and my being offline. I just need to get things done.
Dear Lazyweb: How Do You Deal with Blockers?
After reading a number of post on the Ubuntu and KDE planets, addressed to Dear Lazyweb. I’m not going to be lazy and not do research on this topic. Rather I am interested in hearing how people deal with certain problems. So I’m going to turn the blog over to you guys and gal, and get your ideas. Please prove to me that this crowdsourcing of ideas idea really works. 🙂
So dear Lazyweb,
How do deal with blockers? Blockers being larger/enormous tasks, that prevent your project going forward organically.
Thanks in advance.
Todo Progress So Far
Remember my TODO list for this year? No, I’m not gonna tell you when I posted it. And no if you find it, you are not allowed to post a link or a hint to it. If you are long time reader and you found it, consider yourself part of the in-crowd.
So how well am I doing? Out of the 8, only number 3 actually is realized to date. Realized late April to be more exact. Item 1 fell through the cracks. justCheckers is dead and served its purpose for me. Number 2 is a real work in progress, and I plan on realizing it before the end of the year. Number 4 is still a dream. With number 5, I’m currently stumbling around with. Maybe a certain someone out there somewhere can help with that. Number 6 is something I need to badly do before the inclement season starts. Number 7 and 8 are still in the initial stages.
Totals so far: 1 success, 1 failure, 3 in progress and 3 that need work on. Not the greatest score. I’m only 12.5% to maybe 25% done. Still have much to do.