For years I’ve been looking for easy ways to get thoughts and ideas out onto a web page.  Yeah, most people call that blogging.  Consistency is always a big hurdle for me.  This blog is a testament to that fact.

I couple months ago I found a service that would connect with Evernote and allow me to automatically post things I wrote in there.  Well it got a little flaky and it didn’t have some of the functionality I wanted.  So I decided to just get back over here and use this old site as a proving ground and slowly fix it up as I have ideas, opportunity, and inspiration.

I love a good series.  Back and forth.  I didn’t grow up a basketball fan.  In fact, I was resentful when a coach sought me out and asked me to try out for a team.  “You only want me to play because I’m tall.”  I was young and foolish - being tall’s a real advantage on the court.

But in the finals of ‘93 with the Suns vs. the Bulls I finally developed an appreciation for the game.  Granted, I’m a fair weather fan and only get interested towards the end of the season.  I used to complain that it seemed like all the action happened in the last 3 minutes of the game.  Why not just skip to that and just play an intense 3 minute game.  You could play two or three a day!  Much more exciting…

A post a day for 5,000 days. That’s an achievement. I can’t even keep up with a weekly post. The problem is looking over his posts - they are short and sweet.  This 5,000th post was back on June 5th.  Here is a link to Seth Godin’s 5,000th post.

And here is my takeaway quote from that little post: Showing up daily isn’t my challenge–it’s learning to live with the fact that I can’t say everything I want in a single post, that the trade-off of reaching people easily is that you can also lose people easily. I would like to take up that challenge, because writing too much - too many words for the thought I want to convey is a problem of mine.  Pithy I’m not.  But a challenge like that brings up in me fears of not being able to succeed like few things I’m currently aware of.  More than public speaking.  And the excuses start pouring out, “Which blog would I put it on?”  I have about 8 dead blogs to choose from.  :-D

The house is now back to it’s currently regular occupants. It’s time to get back into the swing of things. I haven’t left myself much time to write. But it’s not about the time or the amount - it’s about the habit… the doing it.

So I’m back. Let me ask you - how do you handle a backlog? What do you do when commitments and tasks has piled up on you and there’s really more than what you can do?

Today is my last day of work before getting some time off over Thanksgiving. I have a lot of things I need to do at home and in side projects, it makes it very tough to follow through with my “day job”. But I do want to keep my commitment to write here. So I’m simply going to put down a “Will Do” and see what happens there.

Today’s Will-Do list:

I was sure I’ve talked about this before - - some things are just worth repeating.

One of the things I’m considering using this blog for is my “Will Do” list. Now why a WillDo and not a ToDo? Maybe you can think of it as a MustDo list. These concepts and lists have different purposes.

For example, in the time management system called “Getting Things Done” (GTD by devoted fans, and the rest of us…) the idea is to put everything on your list to get it out of your head and on to paper. Then you spend your time prioritizing and deciding whether that was hair brained, an errant dream, or a vital task that must be accomplished.

This site has been left to it’s own devices since I was in the hospital a year and a half ago. I’m thinking about re-branding this place, adding some curtains and changing the direction.

I need a place on the web to just splatter random thoughts. A public-private partnership (that just sounds so good… I think every endeavor should have a public-private partnership. It just would be so integrated) between hopes and dreams and actions and plans. The name is snappy, the URL is short. It definitely doesn’t roll off the tongue. It’s also not something you could give a shout out to on radio or in a podcast (hint, hint). But that’s not the intention. This is a place that you either “run into” by searching for all kinds of weirdness - or I let it slip to you that it even exists.

I’m too groggy to have the good sense to get my good side. But my new glasses are lookin’ sharp :)

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OK, so I wasn’t super productive this morning. But I did sleep an extra hour or so. That’s a great thing all in itself! And I’ve been able to catch up on some news items and listen to two podcasts. But now I’m a little late for work. Gonna have to hustle. But even in this compressed time, I’ve been able to have some quality thoughts. One of the podcasts hits directly at my new web venture. I’m thinking about linking to it for my inaugural post - not sure about that yet. I’ll have to decide in about 2-3 days though! :) The sun’s coming up, it’s frosty out there. Gotta get moving. My shoulder was feeling good when I got up. But a little time in front of the desk, and it’s tightening up. We’ll see what the day brings. Moving out into it. One week down.
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Oh, I was going to send this off this morning - but I was actually working on one of my scheduled blogs. It took a lot longer than I thought. Going after these one after the other may be a bit more than I can manage. I’m still on top of things so far though. Is this going to just be a post about how I was late in posting? No, I’ll add some news. I actually got my first check that isn’t directly tied to my working hourly - it’s tied to business and profit and percentages and such. It’s not enough to quite my day job but it’s a start and it’s something I want to build on. I want my whole income to be derived from sources such as this. I’ll continue to chip away at that little by little. I posted what I have for an action plan in a forum that I’m a member of. No responses back yet. I sure hope someone does a critique, I could sure use the help. And that’s one thing I love about commenting online. I can benefit directly, but then a number of other people can also benefit by seeing what I did and didn’t do correctly and listening in on the criticism and encouragement I receive. It’s till a little bit too spectator for me, but a lot of people learn that way. We’ll see what happens there. One more day and this week will be completed. I have another doctor’s visit over lunch today for the shoulder. Eight or so more on the outside before I have my surgery. I can make it that long, I think. I’ll write more in just a few hours. I’m going to do a little exercise before going to bed - very little.
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There is a sense of vertigo that I get whenever events seem to squeeze in on me. There seems to be a lot of action and motion going on and I stand in the middle of it. The question is - is this the coming together of many streams in my life into a confluence of purpose and meaning? Or is it a wave of fire sweeping up to me to leave me as a pile of ash. The only way to know is to wait and see. I had a terrible day at work yesterday. The project was to end and be completed now has 2-3 major bugs that have to be investigated, uncovered, and rectified. It was quite a setback, emotionally as well as professionally. So I will have to be putting more mental energy there. However at the same time I’ve been trying to get on top of some consistency in putting up content to the Internet and build a legitimate presence there (er, here?). I have a calendar that I’m holding myself to. I am talking to another netizen who is traveling a similar path about holding one another accountable. And I’m putting web parts and pieces together to provide a stable platform to build a community, or a tribe, upon. I’m getting some structure to my mornings, which are my big productivity hours before I have to run off to my j-o-b. As usual (for me) too many ideas, not enough action. But this year starts the new era of action. Not starting with a burst out of the gates, but more of the measured stride of the marathon runner. But I see the motion around me, and in me, so I’m turning a rough day around to a positive starting place.
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This morning I was able to start working on my Google Reader account. I was looking at Ed’s list of things for going into 2010. He talked about needing fuel for content. And if I’m going to make this blog calendar thing work - I’m going to definitely need some fuel. So I did started looking for places to get some fuel for content. I’m sure I could make some adjustments, but I already found two articles that caught my fancy - and that was just while setting the feeds up! I also listened to a 48 Days podcast talking about whether or not it was Godly or a lack of faith to set personal goals. That could be a discussion or a blog post for sure. I wonder if people would take sides on an issue like that? I also listened to some more audio on podcasting and trying to get that under my belt. Tonight I have a Skype call with someone who may partner up with me for accountability. I know I could sure use it. And I think I’m capable of giving as good as I get. We’ll see about that… Until tomorrow.
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Time to try something new. Time to see about making things stick. Time to inaugurate a new ritual. Time to make the power of habits work for me instead of against me. Time to get going. It would seem that 2009 was a bad year for writing to this blog. I stopped at the end of ‘08 and now it’s late February in 2010! I haven’t decided if it matters much that I have older posts on here from my attempts at getting started as an Internet marketer. I think it’s quaint and if you see the history there - then you know I haven’t decided to nuke them. Those old posts will stay for now mainly because I want this site to be a bit messy. I don’t want to get all up tight because it isn’t perfect, because I’m not perfect and I don’t want any of my internally voiced excuses to pull me down. It is what it is and I’m going to make incremental changes and improvements instead of trying to “unveil a masterpiece.” I have created a blogging schedule and we’ll see how it maps out. Basically I’ll be writing something to publish on Thurs - Sun. So Mon - Wed is idea generation time and preparation time. It may be too big of a bite to handle. Maybe I should start small and master just one post a week for a while. Maybe I should get some momentum going. Or maybe it’s just time to take action, to get started, maybe it is time to try something new.
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Starting at a new client site today. This is going to be a fast three weeks. #

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@Ed_Dale in pre-season my Flock has dropped for the 3rd time, evil PC ? Should there be a Firefox alternative before August? Just in case? # @CaroMcC If your site is anything like your forum prowess - it will be fantastic. Still remember your 30DC III insigts… You go girl! # I have a new contract (job) starting Monday (07/14/08). I didn’t even have to interview! I’m either real good, or they’re real desperate ;) #

Yesterday I updated this site and some of the associated components.  This includes the component that integrates with Twitter.  It seems that it isn’t working as I expected.  In addition to the tasks I wanted recorded from that system, I wanted to also record some of the other things I completed yesterday.

I put Laura's VBS signs back out.  I didn't have the key to the church so I just used the bent posts we already had.  At least the signs are back up and we can replace the posts as needed.
I mailed out my last two mentored Peacemaker cases, since the e-mail versions are having a hard time getting through.
I went to the server location and inventoried supplies for my business partner.
I updated the church web site to include rotating pictures - finally.  This required that I load the demo template using WAMP and then see how they did things in the demo.  Pastor has been waiting a long time for this.

If the Twitter report doesn’t come back, I’ll have to amend this with entries from there manually.  Automation is so cool when it actually works.

My server has been hacked - some doofus from Texas is sending spam from MY SERVER! :( #

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(Update - I wasn’t hacked. I talked to my server management at Rose Hosting and they explained that there would be outbound spam in my mail que if that were the case. Spammers don’t mind bringing a mail server to its knees, because there are so many out there unattended. But someone had logged in. So I changed all the passwords on the system and we were back in business a day or two later. I didn’t want this misconception left out there without a follow-up. 7-4-08)

Wow! I just experienced my first earthquake EVER! St. Louis MO doesn’t get many of those babies!! #

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I haven’t posted at all through December. But I don’t want the current to slip by without making some mention of where I’m going. My last post mentioned some musings I was having about direction. I’m settling down to something more concrete. For one thing I’ve decided on just one book to work on for starters. Focus… focus. The working title is Set of Sail.

I’m working on consolidating some other goals. I currently have a list of 12 for 2008. I’m trying to decide if I can live with such a deluge or whether I should try for 10, 7, 5, or maybe just 3. You’ll know in just a few days - because I will post back here before the end of the year (this is why I added the Will Do category to this post).

As October crawls into the past, things seem as hectic as ever. I’ve neglected chronicling my antics as I geared up for the Iowa-Missouri Peacemaker Retreat that my wife and I presented. It went very well and I think a handful of people are motivated to make changes in their homes and communities. The week before we were at a church presenting on the same topic. So the last half of this month has been dedicated to Biblical conflict resolution and interpersonal reconciliation.

A new project deadline! We are now shooting for 12/10. Any takers on how long that will last? #

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Wow, it’s been almost a week since I posted.  I read an entry on another blog that you should only write a blog post 2-3 times a week.  You will wear people out with all your drivel otherwise.  To each their own.  If I was blogging for them, I might take that advice.  But at this point - I’m blogging purely for myself, so…

I just read this morning about two things to do to conquer procrastination: Break it up - look at tasks you are putting off in small, manageable, bite-sized pieces.Write it down - writing goals is great, but to help with this problem you need to log what you’re doing so you can look at it with honesty and see where you are wasting your time.I think I’m up for this.  As a major procrastinator, I want to find something that works.  Because my whole goal in the “SetOfSail” thing is to find things that work and share them with “the rest of us.”

So what should be done today?  I’ve already had some time reading about building an extraordinary life, specifically about the influence of friends and peers in our choices and outcomes.  I’ve also cleared out my e-mail (I get about 2,000 e-mails a day, 1,980 of them are junk!  Maybe I should but getting a better spam filter as a task to accomplish!).

I got an e-mail from a friend about their support of Ron Paul for president in 2008, I went and looked at his positions.  I strongly agree with all of them except two, so does that mean I should support him?  Something to think about…  I enjoy watching and learning about politics.  I happen to live in a country where I actually have an option to participate.

I have made my phone call (denied!) and I have about 30 minutes left on my last goal for tonight :) # Finishing my 40 minutes towards paperwork and going to bed at a decent hour - night all! 2 out of 3 for the first day… I’ll take it. # Ok, Ajax is going to work. That’s comforting. I got the trim. I will start on the sermon. So all the will do’s for today are now done. #

What did we learn from yesterday?  For one thing, the Twitter Tool doesn’t update late at night, so all my updates on meeting my commitments weren’t logged yesterday.  No big deal.  And I missed one item on my list of three things - terrible?  Maybe, but we won’t look back.  It’s hard to drive by steering through the rear view mirror.

For today I have a few things that I will do:

Leaving work. Did not get Price Sharing done. I worked on AJAX all day. #

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So, this morning I’m going to list out just the simple things I’m going to accomplish.  This is not a “To Do” list.  Whenever I see ToDo, I think of DoDo, am I the only one?  And your mind can run wild with what you would do with a list of DoDo items.  I’m not looking to dribble on with all the things that need to be addressed in my life (I do have a day job to go to you know).  But this is about making a commitment.  So I’ll start small and make commitments I can keep and build up goal-setting muscle.  Ok, here goes.