Importance of the Spotless Mind

I have a sick habit of completely wasting my 'downtime'; I'd rather cram any creative output in between doing other things, particularly the income generating kind. I am awesome at multitasking, a trait that has only grown exponentially as I add more and more potentially time wasting online pastimes, such as IRC, forums, tweeting, Google Reader,and a whiny blog about how much I fail as a human being (perhaps you heard of it). Earlier in 2009 I fell off the MMORPG wagon and revived my WoW subscription, which I managed to let lapse a month ago. I can't begin to tell you how much of a good move that was.

Mind you, this is online. Offline I am involved in two other organizations (of one I was elected commander), am trying to get more involved in yet a third. I slowly increased my physical activity this year and as a result have lost nearly 30 pounds. Hobby wise I have taken up interest in beers and wine (and the home production thereof), in hiking and photography (tried to start a blog about that, too), and of course, cartooning.

I'm not rattling off this list to complain how little time I ever have in a day - if you wonder how I manage to do any of this effectively the blunt truth is that I don't. Yet, much of my sudden burst in productivity through self-management, I realize, stems from finally getting treatment for depression and the ilk. And it also has to do in part of slowly regaining my focus in life.

The other week I finally got around to cleaning out my roll top desk and it struck me how much crap I own. As a life long pack rat, I picked up a lot of physical baggage over the years, the emotional meaning behind each object has faded, if not disappeared entirely. But, as I will post a little later, I am also finding a treasure trove of tools I squirreled away.