As individuals we can only do so much before we reach our physical limits. By specializing though, we can maximize those things we’re best at (and we enjoy most).

It’s a scary thing to do, hiring people. Writing those cheques every month, whether the work is there or not is not to be trifled with. Still…

I agree with you sometimes you have so many ideas you just want to get it out there but keeping up with those ideas involve more investment (time, money, energy) and if you’re running low pretty soon other projects will suffer.

Seriously, though, I was on the Getting Things Done track for a while, until I got sidetracked by life. So this was a good reminder that I need to get out my GTD flowchart and get back on track again.

You reach a point where you have to back off and commit yourself to certain things, and be willing to set aside something and come back to it later.

Just like blogging.

Something just as important – you have to not only be able to say “no”, but say it and then not dwell on it.

Dwelling on a “no” decision is just as bad as saying “yes”.

One tip that some genealogists use to avoid burnout, and that applies to blogging, is to back off current projects, to say “no” so to speak, and go back through older research (or blog posts).

Frequently, you’ll find something you’ve overlooked, or will come up with new ideas. This will help to strengthen the foundations of your research, or blog as it were, and it actually does help relieve some of the pressure.

I am sure after a month or so you will be able to get things back in shape and start more new projects again. After seeing you daily schedule in a post last week I realized that you do seem to have a great schedule to manage your time much better than most of the rest of us mere mortals.

1. Getting Things Done is a great method of putting everything you’ve committed to in context so you can make better Yes/No decisions and make sure your day-to-day decisions are well-aligned with your longer-term objectives and dreams.

2. Mind mapping is a tremendously easy, yet powerful visualization technique and allows you to interact with your commitments in a way a more “2-D” approach like lists or outlines simply can’t.

3. Saying “no” for the right reasons is a critical skill to master. At my company, we have a very visible sensibility that coming up with good ideas isn’t terribly hard when you have a thoughtful, creative team to work with. Deciding which are the best ideas is the tricky part. You also have to develop the skill of applying this sensibility to new opportunity. When there’s something “too good to pass up” in the offing, I always make one of my first questions “What thing am I doing now that I can/must stop doing (temporarily or permanently) to make room for this new thing?”

Andy, I think you are right about the stepping back and analyzing your blog habits… I need to do this too.

It makes sense to stop taking new work on, try and get current projects smoothed out, and then when things are settled, continue to expand.

Burning the midnight oil can be very productive – the early days just after my son was born proved quite productive for me – it meant being up anyway, and with no other disturbances other than a feeding babym or a baby needing rocking to sleep, meant I got a lot of web work done. Now though, sleep is precious, so midnight oil is no longer burnt. Although this helps physically (less tired), mentally its a strain because all the things you want to get done just doesn’t get the time dedicated to it that it needs to.

I often try to take stock of what I’m doing and what should take prioirty. As I don’t (yet) blog full-time, I need to make sure that my blogging receives enough attention, but not so much trhat my paid work, my family, or my other commitments, suffer.

It’s tough.

I too get lots of ideas and think “Wouldn’t it be great if…” Trouble is, after the rush of implementing something, it has to be maintained. And there aren’t enough hours in the day.

I need to build things up more slowly, nurturing what I already have. I might try the mind map exercise on my life as a whole, as there are a lot of things going on (I’ve just taken on a year’s mentoring role (not blog related) which is a new one for me, and I need and want to invest proper time into this guy’s development).

Sleep’s good too :)

I still think I could improve the efficiency of some of my blogging pracitices, but it’s not always easy to see how when you’re actually doing it daily. Maybe I need to take a weekend out to analyse how I blog and how to improve it.

Unfortunatly, this means my other blogs get neglected, and they were just starting to make some decent money, and they are so fun to write that I just wouldn’t want to write if I couldn’t write for them too. So, I’m burning the midnight oil trying to be superwoman right now. It’s 3:38am here in Roanoke, VA

Had to share that I ‘feel your pain’ man.

It’s never going to happen … not even for a few minutes :)

Beyond GTD I eventually learned the importance of the word “no” as I too became busier and busier with my various projects related to my personal development business. You always have to say “no” to something so you can say “yes” to something else. I found it helpful to think of each “no” as a way of saying “yes” to something much more important. Here’s an article I wrote on this back in August:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/08/saying-no/

In order to pursue the best opportunities, I had to consciously make some tough choices about where to say “no.” For example, I recently disabled user comments on my blog as an experiment. People can still give me private feedback, but I found that this freed up lots of time for other things that were more important to me. I can always re-enable comments for specific posts when I truly desire feedback and discussion. Obviously there are serious benefits to having comments, but I think that I’ll keep them turned off, as the benefits don’t justify the burden for me. Turning off comments freed up some extra time and energy that I’ve been able to put to more effective use, both for my own benefit and that of my readers. For one, I’ve been able to do a lot more writing, and I think my writing has been more focused without so much feedback to deal with. I love feedback, but there are other things I love more.

Something to consider….

http://www.43folders.com/ is good too