No gaming this weekend, due to Father’s Day, which I spent with my wife and kids. It was a very nice day.

Last week, I spent Thursday and Friday fighting with Amazon.com over my 4e Boxed Set. My Parents had pre-ordered the Boxed Set in March, as a birthday gift for me. On the release date (June 6th), there was a message that my set would be delayed until the 12th. Annoying, but I can wait. By the 12th there was no indication my set has shipped, so that night I called customer support, where I was told that the set was ready to ship, and I should see something on the website in the morning.

I got to work, the next morning, and checked Amazon, only to find my order had been delayed until JULY 18th !!!!!! At lunchtime I called Amazon again, and after some negotiating, I had them send me the three Core books as separates, with 2-day shipping, for the same price my Parents paid for the boxed set. After all the attractive slip cover was not the reason I wanted the books.

So last night I checked UPS and my books arrived in Buffalo in the afternoon, and should be out on the truck for delivery. I have my fingers crossed.

Over the weekend, I gave some thought about my slumping productivity at work and especially at home. I have started to put some things in place to help increase my productivity. At home, I have decided that it would be best if I focused my energies on one category of tasks each night. I divided up my efforts into the following areas:

• RPG’s (my campaigns)
• RPG’s (I am playing in)
• Blogging
• Computers

I have two nights were I do gaming, so those nights are used up.  That leaves me 4 topics in 5 nights.  So the 5th night is an open night where I work on other types of tasks/projects.   My goal is that each night, I work on that night’s topic for 1 hour, no interruptions, no distractions.  This way by the end of the week, I have advanced in each of those areas.

In addition to that, I have decided to reduce my level of noise, by hiding my RSS feeds, as they have become a very easy distraction.  I have also increased my sleep, as I was getting far too little of it, making me too fatigued to do the harder work.

We will see how the changes work.

As for this week, I will be finishing up a Gnome Stew post on Wednesday, and I will try to get another post out on DNAphil this week as well.

Have a good week, and good gaming to you.

So you have spent months tweaking your GTD system, getting it set up just the way you want it. Then one day, you wake up to find out your system has been: lost, hacked, crashed, stolen… Now what?

Read more

Over the past few weeks we have looked at how to step into the Getting Things Done methodology by using a stripped down system that emphasizes the essence of GTD. In this last article, we look at an often overlooked aspect of the GTD system called the Weekly Review. The Weekly Review is a technique that is used to align priorities and keep your system running with the highest productivity. It is one of the most powerful techniques in the GTD methodology and once you incorporate it into your system, you will see benefits right away. So let’s get into discussing the Weekly Review…

Read more

Once again the rigors of the week, prevented me from getting the article I wanted done.  Rather than missing another post, I present to you my reading list for 2008…
I am a pretty avid reader….of sorts. It may be more accurate to say that I like to read frequently, but am picky on what I read. I always have a book that I am in the middle of reading, be it a novel or the rules to a game. Reading is a big deal at my house, we have a family reading time just before 8pm, where the whole family, including my 3 year old son, sit and read (though mostly he just flips pages, but its a good start), I read every night before bed (and often fall asleep in my book), and I often steal time to read while in the bathroom (its one of the only truly quiet places in the house). In any case, I typically just drift from book to book, without any serious thought of what I wish to read, so I decided this year that I would organize a reading list to ensure that before 2008 ended, I had gotten some good reading done.

So here is my list….

Read more

The post for today, was suppose to be my 5th installment on Stepping Into GTD, but as Christmas approaches, things have gotten very hectic at Encoded Designs, and I was unable to get the article, for today, written.  Hanging my head in shame, I ask that you hang on until next week for the 5th Installment.  In the meantime, as way of review here are the previous four articles:

• Stepping Into GTD: Part 1- Getting Control Of Inputs

• Stepping Into GTD: Part 2- Processing

• Stepping Into GTD: Part 3- File This!

• Stepping Into GTD- Part 4: What Should I Be Doing?

Part 5 will cover the Weekly Review, one of the most misunderstood, and most critical steps in the GTD system.  If you thought getting everything onto a to do list was powerful, the you are in for a true productivity treat.

Until next week….

It is one of the great questions in GTD: What should I be doing right now? You now have control of your inputs, the ability to process your inputs to determine what do next, and expert filing skills and yet none of that actually tells you what item from your To Do list you should actually be working on at any given time. The answer to that great question requires some understanding of who you are at work and at home. Don’t worry, in this week’s article I am going to help you develop a personal compass to steer you through the maze of your To Do list.

Read more