Macopinion

Where has Marc been? Part 1

by Marc Zeedar macopinion@designwrite.com


You may have noticed that I've been absent lately. Well, I haven't gone anywhere, I've just been busy. What have I been up to is an interesting story which I'm going to cover in a series of articles over the next few days.

I've written before a little about my daily life, but not in the detail I'm going to reveal shortly. I'm certainly not doing this out of ego because I'm not proud of the bad habits which I'm going to reveal, but because I think it'll be valuable for you to learn and benefit from my experiences. For you to understand my situation, you need to understand my life.

First I'll begin with a little background. As many of you know, I'm a graphic designer and writer by trade. (My long-term goal is to be a novelist.) Along the way I became a programmer and shareware author (Z-Write). For the past five years I've been publishing a bimonthly programming magazine for REALbasic users (REALbasic Developer), which has been my primary occupation. I also write for MacOpinion and AppleLinks when I can find the time.

The past few years have been chaotic, to say the least. In 2004 I moved from California to Oregon, in part because I could afford a larger home there, and also to be closer to my elderly grandfather. Just a couple months after moving, Grandpa's physical condition worsened and it looked like he'd have to move into a home. Instead, I volunteered to care for him at my new house, so he moved in with me. While that added some stress to my life, it was also a blessing, and it was wonderful to share that time with him. Last June, he passed away at the age of 91.

Just a few months after that, in September, I ended up in the hospital myself. I had a severe bout of pancreatitis and learned I was diabetic. Since then I've completely reinvented my life, learning to eat healthy, exercise more, and develop a healthier lifestyle. I'm pleased to report that I'm about as a cured as you can be (off all the medications). I've lost 75 pounds and I feel better than I've felt in decades.

Now during all this chaos I somehow managed to keep my businesses going and life continuing. Though we did postpone an issue of the magazine while I was hospitalized and recovering, it was just a one-time delay.

I used my medical situation as a motivation to get back on track with many things in my life, but unfortunately, not everything went as well as I'd hoped. I still found myself endlessly behind on projects, slow to respond to emails, and constantly scrambling at the last minute for things that should have been organized months earlier. And that doesn't include my lack of progress on the ambitions and goals I had when I moved to Oregon.

For instance, when I moved I really hoped I'd have more time to devote to programming and my shareware business. When I launched Z-Write in 1999, it was a unique application. Today there are dozens and dozens of similar programs (though none with quite the same focus) and it really needs to be updated. But I've been so busy and so distracted I've found it difficult to keep focused and work on multiple major projects at once.

I knew that I needed to get better organized. I needed a plan, but everything in my life was so overlapped and overwhelming I wasn't even sure where to begin. One of the key disadvantages of working for yourself is that there's a total blend between personal projects and "work." Everything felt like work to me, even watching soccer games so I could report on them on my weekly soccer podcast.

I found I wasn't enjoying things I should, like watching movies or reading or TV shows. I constantly felt guilty, because I knew I should be working. Yet I felt like I was working all the time. Didn't I deserve the occasional break?

Financially things have been sucky, too. I've had a beta version of Z-Write out for two years and still haven't finished it, and since it's free, it brings in no income. I'm in the middle of two book projects right now that could bring in some income -- but I must finish them.

The bottom line is that things in my work life have not been good. I'm tired, depressed, frustrated, and unmotivated. I just feel overwhelmed and guilty at all the commitments I'm dropping. So I knew something had to change, and soon.

Now for the past year or two, I've been hearing mention of a particular book that's supposed to help with some of this stuff. I read some programmer blogs and many of these guys have talked about the book. In fact, the book is so common many just refer to it by the initials GTD. There's even a category of software called "GTD Software." The whole Inbox Zero movement which is catching on is based on the book's theories. I'd seen this and had the book on my "check this out someday" mental checklist, but of course I never got around to actually doing it (ironic, considering the book's title).

A few weeks ago I decided it was time. It was such an impulsive decision, I wanted the book right then. I couldn't even wait for Amazon to overnight it (they wanted more for the shipping than the book cost), but drove to a local bookstore and bought a copy in person.

The book is called Getting Things Done by David Allen, and next time I'll have my review of the book.

Next Time: Marc reviews Getting Things Done.


macopinion@designwrite.com