Deb Smouse

Earlier this year (or was it last year?), Lor recommended a book by David Allen called “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity”. Since I tend to have spells of too much on my plate….and want to get more done each day, I looked into it. It’s a truly fabulous book with a great system of being more productive.

As typical of me, though, I kind of got out of habit. One of the most productive exercises, though, was the whole core dump thing…..and I have been needing to do it, but simply haven’t taken the time. Yesterday, though, I set my timer and allowed myself 10 minutes to clear my head. Though David recommends full sheets of paper so that you can better file them, I still love my 3×5 cards.

I went through half a pack of cards in ten minutes.

I felt better..just to clear things a bit and figure out what needed to be done in the next day or two.  As well as get a handle on those longer term projects.   I was feeling inspired, so I downloaded the podcast on procrastination, since that has seemed to be a humongous problem for me. I was doing some de-cluttering of my office closet…and wanted something more inspiring to listen to. Something he said just stuck out to me….

The thing that comes closest to touching your soul is what you procrastinate on the most.

Wow. Now that struck a nerve. I fiddle fart around the house instead of writing a lot. Moreso than I ever used to do. I think it still boils down to the fear thing….is it I am afraid of what other people will think when they read it - or is it that I’m afraid of my own innermost demons? Considering that one of my guiding principals for 2008 is Courage, well….I need to work on overcoming that fear, right?

Even knowing how true it was, I put off writing this morning. I did laundry. Unloaded the dishwasher. Made my bed. Fixed coffee. Read the paper. Talked to Laura when she got here to clean. Surfed blogs. Cleared out the Christmas stuff that was up in the kitchen.

I did get quite a bit done on de-cluttering yesterday (yes, I know it was Christmas, but I had a quiet hour!). I relocated all the photo albums from my office closet, discovered a photo of my grandmother that is going to go above my desk. Organized all the papers that need to be sorted into one box. You can walk into my closet now, which is great, because I need to get some things organized if I am going to get accomplished in 2008 what I truly want to accomplish.

A huge chuck of my 2008, though, revolves around writing and development. I need that solid, uninterrupted writing time again. Among Christine Kane’s 66 Ways to Build your courage post is #56: Wake up at 5 AM and write. Very good advice, I think, especially considering that I’ve always been a bit of a morning person. When I blogged a long time ago, I wrote every morning before going to the gym. When I was doing the erotic blog, I would get up and write.

It’s a successful time for me…..early morning hours when my body is waking…but my mind is still hanging on to the pieces of my dreams. It’s just getting past my fears and doing it.

By the way, I need to pick up a new copy of GTD. It’s nowhere to be found. I spent some time looking everywhere for the book, by the way, this morning, too. Just another way to stay away from my desk. I think I left it in a hotel room somewhere or on a plane. But I think it would be a good thing to put it into my carry on for the next couple of weeks of travel.

I’ve also been putting off getting into suitable clothing and running my errands…..