I've been experimenting lately with how to be more productive with my time. My most recent success is turning off my email for long periods of time, and then being responsive for short bursts. For example, today I checked email from 7:55 until 9:35. Then, I checked it again from 12:15 until 12:35. Then I checked it again later in the afternoon (about 20 minutes...). The long and the short of it is, I turned off the notifier. If someone really needs me they can call me. But seeing that notifier down in the corner really (really) distracts me from what is going on.
The other thing which has been energizing is working at home while I do lame stuff. Mary Margaret and I have been catching up on addictive TV shows. L O S T was first (anyone who read our Christmas Letter from 2005 probably knew this already). 24 is a good one as well (see the Jack Bauer quote as the title!). Other variants of this include:
- We haven't got much time
- There's no time
- How much time is that gonna take, and
- I need this now!
I've enjoyed reading too. After all, the Grand Challenge is consuming both ends of my candle, so I need something to prop it up in the middle.