You know what they say... time is money. I feel like if I don't spend my time working on my various projects, I won't make money. That said, I can't focus on my projects.
I've got a few things that I need to make serious progress on in the next month or so. I have a nice list and everything. But when I sit down at the computer, I find myself constantly distracted by everything and nothing at the same time.
And it's not like I'm even doing anything useful like cleaning or emptying the dishwasher or messing around with the cats. OK, I did snow-blow the driveway today, but that was barely a 20 minute endeavour.
I think that maybe the problem is that I get stuck on one particular project instead of jumping around to stay interested. For example, right now I'm trying to finish up my ad serving software. It's boring me to tears though and I just can't sit down and bang it out. Perhaps if I took a break from it and worked on something else for awhile I could come back to it refreshed.
I guess to be fair, I did proof seven book chapters today, and that took a few hours, and a lot of concentration. I found some mistakes that weren't caught earlier, and honestly I'm surprised that even I caught them because I'm too "close" to the material.
I feel really energized about rewriting the forum software, but I'm stuck on writing the requirements. Like a "mature" developer (as GregLeg put it), I feel I need to get those requirements down on paper instead of winging it like every previous version. I wouldn't wing it in a project for a client or employer, so why would I for myself?
This is why college seems to be such a difficult thing to tackle for freshmen who live on campus. With all of the new opportunities and freedoms you have for the first time in your life, you also have a responsibility of staying on top of your shit and moderate any distractions. It seems like time management is one of, if not the most important things you learn in your first year of college.