I’m easily distracted. By “easily distracted” I mean…
Me too! RT @centpegacorn: ………. I just had a dream that I was a magical animal called a centpegacorn ………
Oh, wait, sorry. What was I saying?
Oh yeah, I’m easily distracted. As a clear example, I’m actually writing this blog post in a separate window from another blog post I’m currently writing. The thought for this blog came to me as I was washing dishes while I was still writing the other blog post. Well, not simultaneously washing dishes and writing, but still.
I often find myself doing 3 or 4 things at once. My wife drives me crazy because she’s a big movie/tv fan and always wants me to “spend time with her” watching something. It drives me out of mind. Not the part about spending time together, but the fact that it always involves me sitting in front of a screen doing nothing. Even as a kid I sat in front of the tv with my D&D books sprawled out on the living room floor. I’ve seen probably half or less the amount of tv as anyone else my age, and I like it that way. For single-minded focus entertainment I prefer books anyway, but I digress.
I never have enough hours in the day. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m now staying up until midnight-1AM almost every night, and getting up at 5:30AM for work. I spend my lunchtime reading Twitter, blogs, and message boards or planning my D&D games. I have almost every book published for D&D 4E, and I have not yet completely read a single one of them. Many I have yet to even open. I also have 7 or 8 novels yet unread in my queue. Still, even neglecting those things it takes me until the last minute to finish planning my D&D sessions. (Right now I’m actually feeding my 3-year-old who is being a little bit difficult with Mommy laid up sick. It’s always something.)
I use Masterplan to plan my campaign. I still use an older version that isn’t locked to one computer, which is pain since I don’t get to take advantage of the shiny new features. I still resent Wizards of the Coast’s Cease & Desist action towards Masterplan. I don’t like being treated like a criminal simply because others don’t behave, especially when the tool is so useful for my planning needs.
Had WotC provided a tool at this point that I can use at work, home, and on-the-go I would have stopped harping on it already. But they haven’t, so I continue to do so. Come on Wizards, help us DMs out and give us something we can use. Here’s an idea: create an encounter builder that allows us to move from computer to computer with a project file and our libraries of monsters/items/etc, like Masterplan, but have it encode our user name/password combo into the files. When I open the project, force me to enter my DDi user name and password to open the project and data files. You can then monitor which accounts are making libraries available on-line. You prevent the piracy (which I’m in your corner on) and you allow those of who play the game legitimately to get our work done. Plus, you allow me to use your data without having to actively connect to DDi, which I cannot access from work due to its status as a “game site” in our web filter.
Sorry, I know that was a bit of a tangent, but this article is all about digressions and I felt that still needed saying.
I need more time, or at least better management of the time I have. I enjoy blogging. I love Twitter, as it allows me to benefit from the advice of some great DMs, as well as get news, follow my beloved Yankees and NY Jets, and keep in touch with some friends and family. I also enjoy chatting on message boards such as the WotC community site and a NY Jets football board. These are all time-consuming and they’re eating up time. I bought the Dragon Age video game the day it came out and the same with the Awakenings expansion. I finally just finished everything about 2 weeks ago. If I recall correctly, the original game came out back in late-November.
How do you handle time management? If you have a horse in too many races, how do you cope? Talk back to me in the comments since I still clearly don’t have enough to do!
LOL – what, oh, you have too much to do and too few hours in the day? Join the club, my friend.
Just in the past week I have missed 3 meetings due to my lack of remembering to put them in my calendar so that it would remind me to go… *sigh* all my co-workers are saying I’m getting old!
Anyway, I don’t watch TV either, stopped in 1998… that’s a long time ago to some, seems like just yesterday to me. I have seen bits and pieces while visiting friends and parents, and I have the Big Bang Theory on DVD, so I have seen those, but I have never seen an episode of Battlestar Galactica, Weed(s), any reality show, Arrested Development, How I Met Your Mother, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Grey’s Anatomy (is that still on?) or any other prime-time drama type show, etc etc etc.
Anyway, I digress – how do I cope? Well, (when I remember) I make a schedule. I make my schedule like I make a budget, i.e. I put EVERYTHING on it. I put workout time, readings time, game prep, work-at-day-job- time, commute time, cleaning house time, spending quality time with GF time, spending quality time with dog time, spending quality time by myself time, calling mom time, sleeping time, game running time, etc etc etc.
And I still end up missing some things. So I tend to also make to-do lists. At the beginning of each week, I write down any major or minor thing I have to get done with the due date next to it. I then pick a day that week that I intend to work on the item. I add the time to work on those things to my schedule. I do this in a day planner format, not on the computer, because I need the tactile schedule looking at me and it feels good to literally cross it off with a pencil when I get done.
So, to summarize:
1) Make schedule
2) Make to-do list for week
3) Add to-do items to specific days in calendar
4) Forget to add something and then miss 3 meetings as a result (oh wait, scratch that one, you’re not supposed to do this part)
Hahaha, well, what if you’re like me and you DO write up to-do lists and schedule them in your BlackBerry, then when the reminder comes up, you re-schedule it to a time 12 or more hours in the future. And you continue to do that, over and over and over?
Just as an example, I purchased that aid to Haiti RPG bundle from DrivethruRPG and set a reminder to download the products. I’m still rescheduling it on my Blackberry once a week. *sigh*
I’d try the hard calendar thing, but my boss told me I had to start scheduling things in my planner at work. It’s still open to October 2009 on a shelf in my office. DOH!
Time Distortion Field? Speed?
I’ve learned to cope by not trying to do as much. Or least I’ve been trying…