Getting Things Done
by MW Cook
I’m a busy dude.
But only because I want to be, so that’s nice.
Talk to me sometime. You’ll discover that I’m full of energy. I’m motivated. Ambitious. I want to get stuff done. And I want to do it well. The things I do, I want to be the best at them.
I’m a husband and a father, and I feel threatened by folks who seem to pull those jobs off better than I do.
I’m a writer, and I get chills of joy when I read a published book that’s worse than what I’m writing and chills of agony when I read something that I know is better than what I can do.
I’m a preacher and there’s nothing better than seeing a crowd of people inspired to love more.
I’m a student and I want to write essays that make the professor smack his forehead and say, “Wow, I never looked at it in that way before!”
I’m a friend, and I love everyone I know and want them all to know it and feel empowered through their friendships with me.
I want to excel at all these things, and I don’t really think it’s unreasonable. But, wow, sometimes I just tank out.
I’ve never been the most organized person. I leave things to the last minute and I get emotionally crushed under the knowledge of all the things I’m trying to pull off. It’s not that I have too many things on my plate. It’s just that I’m not so good at organizing my plate. Stuff keeps falling off and I keep making messes all over the table. My writing suffers, I lose touch with friends, I miss important family things.
All this is to ask, how do you do it? How you you keep yourself on track with all the life-roles you want to excel at? How do you organize your time? How do you organize your emotional and mental energy? How do you keep the things you love from falling through the cracks?
Tell me, people of the interwebs. What solutions help you to get the things done that you want to get done?
Matt W Cook 
Oh man… I wish there were good answers:
– Turn off the internet. For reals. When you’re trying to get stuff done, reddit is not your best friend.
– Schedule like crazy. I remember Yuilley telling us that scheduling like crazy was the only way to make sure you got stuff done. That actually works for me. I think there’s a little personality type involved too, though.
– LIsts. I love taskup. It makes great lists, without me having to think too much.
– Staying motivated. I find myself rolling my eyes when I listen to people talk about creating a life plan and writing a accomplishment narrative and… see, right there, my brain actually shut off. But you know, there’s some merit to all of that. You need to actually be committed to accomplishing the things you want to accomplish.
– Write everything down. There’s a whole system of thinking built around this in a book called Getting Things Done — now, don’t become a crazy evangelist for the book. It’s a system. It doesn’t work for everyone. But, the core thought “if you put it on paper, it’s not rattling around your head,” I can get behind that.