A master procrastinator presents the solution.

Draw up a little piece of paper like the one shown below. Start taking notes.

On the left you write in your current tasks (the tasks you're blocked with)

In the right column you etch in anything you're worried about, any fears you have, and anything that's gonna stuff up when you try to do the things in the Action list.

Start anywhere.

You'll find that writing one action will lead to related anxieties. And writing down an anxiety will lead to actions that overcome this.

In the action column you can write big goals or tiny little tasks. Your aim is to end up with at least one task small enough that you can get on with it.

In the anxiety column you can write big over-riding fears, or small concerns, problems, worries. Your aim is to get down to at least one problem that is small enough to be solved.

Both Actions and Anxieties are fractal in nature, recursively-composed of smaller and smaller versions of themselves. Identifying the components is the true battle for the mind-locked geek.

Some notes about the list.

• Don't restrict yourself to any given topic. Sometimes the trouble is outside the expected scope. Nothing is off-topic.
• It's not for other people to read, it's just for you.
• It's not for keeping, so don't worry about what you write. The process of writing it down is what's important. Burn it later, if you want.
• Just start writing the list. No need for prior thought.
• Unfortunately, The real difficulty lies in recognizing that you are procrastinating/stopped in the first place.

What if the list doesn't work?

There are causes of geek-block/writer's block/procrastination that won't be helped by the ActionAnxiety list. If you can identify one of these causes, then address it directly (rather than addressing the symptomatic mental-blockage)

• Depression
• Hunger/Thirst
• Tiredness/Exhaustion/Insomnia
• Sexual Frustration
• Low blood-sugar
• Substance abuse (e.g. cravings or hangovers)
• Illness
• Meetings
• Other. That damned other.

You might want to consider this mantra:

"I choose to start on one small imperfect step, knowing that I have plenty of time to enjoy life."

from here

secretGeek recommends:Feeling Good, by Dr David Burns

Related links

• Mike Dub blogs from inside a case of writer's block and later gives a post-mortem (his posts inspired this one)
• Fire and Motion: a classic from Joel Spolsky
• Structured Procrastination: the essential article, by Stanford's, John Perry (a fellow messy-desk engineer)
• GeekBlock: the first article i wrote for secretGeek, it concerns procrastination and, ironically, remains unfinished.

If you need to store and retrieve dates as string (in a CSV file, for example), here's one way to handle it (in VB.net).

(And if you know a better way -- please show me)

After hearing about VOIP for years, we've now got it in my office!

The installation was painless, the ease of use is high, and the benefits seem to be many. (e.g. inter-state calls get routed through our WAN, to cut down costs, internal PC support staff can do what previously required PABX technician call-out fees, integration with the desktop PC is brilliant and so on.)

We've passed the peak of hyperbole, coasted over the gulf of dissappointment and we're finally onto the plateau of utilisation. Ahh, techno-cycles.

(facts: our VOIP hardware is Cisco, and everything was handled by Australian VOIP Legends Data#3 (nice bunch o'folks they are too).

(This was going to be a joke... but now I suspect I might actually be serious!?)

Forget Test-Driven Development!

Try:

TODO-Driven Development!

Here's the process: (continued....)

    Private Sub Runcommand(CommandText as String)  
      If CommandText <> "" Then
        'TODO: is command valid?
        'TODO: NO: error message...
        'TODO: yes: run the command
      Else
        'TODO: handle for blank command 
      End If
    End Sub

You soon get a Task-List like this...

(Make sure you've got 'Show-Tasks -> All' selected)

Example

---

This will result in a LOT of Compilation errors:

And that's it.

It's almost embarrassing to realise that i often use this process.

(There's also a lot of prior planning, paper prototyping, customer meetings, discussion, procrastination, database design, coffee-drinking, code-generation for sprocs and crud-sproc calls, import of re-usable DAL's, PAG block usage, go PAG!, back-and-forth debates prior to document sign-off, arguments, late-nights, frustration, chatting with friends, sifting through email, scratching in visio, printing things out and leaving them in a heap, scrounging for staples, catching buses, doing back and neck stretches etc., but that's all been left out for simplicity...)

Does giving it a name make it legitimate? Can I write a book on this and do a lecture tour now?

• Don't launch RSS Bandit until after 2pm. (checking the daily grind via Web Browser is therefore required.)
• Don't take technical books to bed. (thanks Julie Lerman)
• Always be reading at least one fiction book. (Jeeves and Wooster recommended ++)

These keep you from getting blog-based-insanity.

Special guest Cornelius Krundaloopha would like to share with you his efforts to acquire the Longhorn build of Windows.

If you want to get your hands on a long horn, all I can say is "fat chance".

Mr Gates, he does not give his long horn to just anybody.

I told my girl friend, "all i want for my birthday is a long horn." she nodded and said "you and me both, honey." which is odd cause she doesn't normally like the computers so much.

She must have forgot what i asked for though because all she got me was some Chinese pills and a brochure about a operation i don't want to discuss right now.

(Continues... )

Rest In Peace, Loki Hennessey, Goddess of Mischief. Beloved family pet, ever playful, would turn thrice on the spot before sitting or lying. May 1990 - May 2004.