Eric Grey

I've read this blog article many times (Cal Newport is one of my favorites) and even though I'm not in school anymore, I think the advice in this article is what will ultimately save me. It's in some ways directly contradictory to GTD, but in some ways not.

The fact is that I just have too darn much to do and too little time to do it. Because I have so many things of apparently equal priority, it makes choosing what to do in any moment pretty difficult. Unfortunately, what ends up happening is that things that give me anxiety (making money, keeping commitments to friends/family/others) get all the attention and things that are quieter, but maybe more important in the long term (learning Chinese, studying herbs, making my herbs class better and better) get short shrift.

In actuality, this is even MORE anxiety producing because I have this lingering feeling that I'm not advancing in very important areas of my life.

Look - I rarely, rarely, rarely miss an appointment, drop the ball on some current commitment, etc. The business is rolling along nicely, systems are being developed, grant money has been applied for and is coming and so on. But, those sneaky little places where MEANING truly resides in my life are becoming empty. It gives me palpitations.

So, I'm going to try the Fixed schedule productivity method combined with "Technique: Limit." Limit what? Computer usage to only what is necessary, and only in bursts. This doesn't mean I won't be blogging, in fact I will probably blog MORE. It means I cut out all the chatting, the internet research, the endless looking for new and better techniques, the obsessing over my blog/sales/Facebook page stats, the fiddling with things.

I'm also limiting new commitments and finding the most essential parts of my profession to study and work on. For now, for me, that's herbs and Chinese language. Everything else is just going to have to wait.

I think this will work, but we'll see.