For someone who’s keenly interested in personal productivity, I have a ton of half finished personal projects, house projects, ideas, etc. They have started to creep into my psyche.
Now, using the GTD system, at least they are all tracked. Too bad they’ve all been on a quasi “someday-maybe” list.
Looking at all the “unfulfilled commitments” at once seems intimidating. But each one isn’t too bad. I just have to focus focus focus and chop away.
There are some barriers causing resistance. For example at lot of the home projects require me to purchase large materials (e.g. doors) that don’t fit into my car. Man I miss the old SUV. So I’m going to find alternatives, like buying every single thing I need, then renting a truck from Home Depot or Lowe’s to get the stuff home.
I’ve already started one thing. Finish some half read books. I was reading like a madman when I used to commute into NYC each day. Usually getting through 2 books a week. On a recent weekend trip, we were without TV or high-speed internet. OH NO! I had to get to the bookstore to get a book as I didn’t know what to do at night–since I go to bed much later than my wife. Though the book was somewhat of a dud, it sparked my interest in reading more. I’m now well on my way to finally finishing A Thousand Splendid Suns, then The Richest Man in Babylon is next. Followed by a few others I have and wanted to read “someday.”
I never got to my stream-of-consciousness writing project that I wrote about last time. I’ll throw out the “can’t find the time” excuse. Really it’s a can’t seem to focus on it excuse. I might self-impose a no internet policy and shut off my computer and phone at 10pm and use that time for reading and writing.
I also need to start jogging again. I can’t believe my last jog was in November. I’m sure most if not all of my C25K gains have gone away. Oh well. It wasn’t that brutal, and I look forward to getting back in shape (again).
Ok, so here is the official to do (and finish) list for summer 2010:
- Finish the flower bed in the back yard. Great, I carved out the area, now I need to plant something in the space!
- Finish my upstairs project, which has been “in-progress” for almost {gulp} 3 years
- This means put doors on my future upstairs bathroom space, the office, and the laundry room. Then finish the door and baseboard trim. I already successfully put up one door. 🙂 And put shelving in the laundry room. And a iron board hook.
- Man o man when this is done it’ll give us so much more usable space that the disaster areas they look like now.
- Paint the back of my living room window’s trim, which is unfinished for {gulp} 3 years! Jeez.
- Complete the C25K jogging program again.
- Read books. A book a week???
- Write in a stream of conscious journal every night.
- And finally, something that wasn’t started, but I want to get done: a play area for my son in the backyard.
I think with focus and discipline I can get all of this accomplished this summer.