Busy, busy, busy.  We’re all so busy.

Let me tell you something, though.  Over the last 4 days, I’ve gotten more done and felt less busy than I have in a long time.  The key word here is *felt* less busy.  I have no quantifiable way to show that I *was* less busy, but I came home relaxed at the end of the day.  My to-do lists were empty.  My work at work was done in half the time I originally estimated.  I was going home because I was *done*, not because it was 5 o’clock.

Why the sudden change, you ask?

Well, over the last 2 years, I’ve used some of the concepts from GTD to get stuff out of my head and into a system.  Most of what that did was make tasks in my life less likely to slip through the cracks.  Because I got to where I trusted this system, I was able to actually relax about whether or not I forgot something.  That’s been a huge change for me.

My problem, in general, is getting motivated to do something.  This is especially true when I have just finished a project.  I look at the big, blank text editor in front of me or the big blank whiteboard and think “I have no idea how I’ll do this… I guess I’ll just wait for a while.”  A while has turned into weeks in the past.  I was getting things working in my head, but a lot of the time was goofing around or generally procrastinating.

Enter The Pomodoro Technique.  I took last weekend and read through the free PDF they have on their site.  I took the basic ideas and customized them to what I’d already been doing with GTD.  The result has been amazing to me.

To give you a summary, the Pomodoro Technique sets aside chunks of time (or pomodoros) where you focus on one task or a group of tasks.  Your entire goal is to focus on the task without being interrupted–internally or externally.  They give you tools to deal with the interruptions so that you can quickly move past them–record them for later, politely ask a colleague if you can get back with them in a few minutes, let the call go to voice mail, turn off your e-mail, etc.  The key is to simply work on one thing until you’re done or the timer rings.  When the timer rings, you immediately take a break for 5 minutes or so.  Longer breaks after 4 or so “pomodoros” even longer breaks in the middle of the day.

I got in on Monday morning and spent one “pomodoro” getting organized for the day.  I went through all the “inboxes” I have — and there are a lot — physical mail, e-mail, bug trackers, feature trackers, twitter, facebook, voicemail, and Things — and scheduled, estimated, and prioritized the tasks for the day.  Once I’d estimated them, I was able to note that I had more than I could handle, so I schedule them for the next day in Things.  After that, I sat down for my first “operational pomodoro” and started working. To my surprise, I finished the first task in 25 minutes.  I got up, checked Facebook on my phone and got a drink, then I went back for another round.  By the end of the day, my entire list was checked off.  When 4:00 rolled around I spent one more pomodoro tidying up, answering e-mails, and making sure I’d cleared out everything, then I reviewed what I’d done and noted what I could improve.

When I got home, I was ready for my kids.  Work was out of my mind.  I had nothing to worry about and it was incredible.

I’ve been doing it for 4 days straight and every day I’ve ticked off everything on my list and gotten to go home early–with a clean conscience.

If you have trouble getting motivated, I highly recommend trying it.  It’s a great technique that can apply to just about any situation where you need to get something done.  Adapt it to yourself, but stick with the rules at first to see what is most effective–don’t go changing it up willy-nilly before you try it as advertised out of the box.

I’m going to stick with this through September and then write another post about how it went.  Here’s hoping for a highly productive, and relaxing, September.

Howdy, pardner

My 15 month old daughter is cute. There is no other word for it. Lately she has taken to this move that I have yet to capture on camera where she leans slightly forward, puts one arm back at an angle and bunches the other arm up like a chicken wing and stomps on the ground while making a funny “mad” face. We have affectionately begun referring to this as her “power chicken” move. It is hilarious to see–I can only hope that one day I capture it before it’s gone forever.

Long live “Power Chicken.”

Man, there’s nothing so crazy as adding a child to your family, no matter the circumstances, but it goes about 100x smoother when your other kids like who’s watching them.

Last Thursday night, Andrea started having contractions, so we got Roddy to come over and wait on Aunt Meg, who was going to spend the night so that Pop and Nana could get here.  After labor all night, AJ was born at 9:55 AM.  While we were recovering, Pop and Nana (and Aunt Meg for a good while) were entertaining and running after the small people.  This is no small task.

And they rose to the occasion.  They brought the kids up that evening to the hospital so they could meet AJ, they took them to a pizza place for lunch, got them Frosties, read ‘em stories, let ‘em play outside a bunch, brought movies they loved, ran after Rachel… the list could got on and on.  It’s a testament to them that at the end of those couple of days with Pop and Nana, the kids were really sad to see them go.  I remember some boring times with my grandparents–and some good times too–but I am sure my kids have GREAT memories of Pop and Nana (and of all their grandparents, for that matter).

Anyway.  AJ is home!  He’s sleeping a lot!  We are blessed by great family and friends that have supported us tremendously.  It makes my heart so thankful.

We are the luckiest family on the planet. No, seriously, we are.

Our kids have 3 awesome sets of grandparents who love them very much and who have ministered greatly to our needs. I’ve seen friends that have no family near and their struggles and it makes me so appreciative for having family within a few hours of here.

We also have a great set of friends. It has made me so glad to live right where we live. Last night I got to help Roddy with some C++ homework he was working on and it was really quite fun. Pam and Roddy have given us so much as friends — DnD nights, lots of parties to go to, a regular and easy escape into a non-kid-centric world, and an introduction to Pho Hoang — I hope we can give them even a little bit back.

Our small group is also incredible. We’ve been part of churches for our entire adult lives and the people we know from the small groups we’ve been a part of have made a huge difference in our lives. We’ve been able to talk about things that matter to us, minister to them, be ministered to by them, and just share a piece of life. We’ve gone out on double dates, had movie nights, talked about Battlestar Galactica and our marriages, we’ve played guitar together, we’ve prayed together–we’ve loved and encouraged one another. I know that isn’t guaranteed or even common these days, so I am appreciative of the fact that we have such relationships.

Honestly, it’s made me not want to move from our house… I am sure those relationships will change, but I can’t imagine starting all over after having such deep and abiding relationships.

Here’s to great friends and family. We’re the luckiest.