Getting things done

As I've mentioned before, an upside of rural entrepreneurship is that you have fewer distractions. So you can actually get something done.

But it still requires discipline. We often end up Shaving the Yak, a term for being sidetracked, then looping. (Joi Ito and Seth Godin have good posts on it.)  I did it tonight.  At the end of a long day, I want to watch a DVD of the John Adams miniseries, but I can't find it. I look to see if it fell behind the TV, and notice how dusty it has become and pull the TV out to clean. I notice another DVD that fell, and go hunting for the case to which it belongs. Now it is time to blog and too late to watch anything.

I should have noticed the pattern early, because I had done it earlier in the same day, when I had started sweeping the floor, and noticed something needed adjusting....

So you see, even though we have fewer distractions, we can easily create them. You need to print an invoice (the single most important activity you do: billing), and the printer is out of toner. You decide to order more, but want to order more office supplies, so you can save on shipping, so you look for the Office Depot catalogue, then remember that if you order online, via the Delta Airlines website, you can earn mileage. Free mileage!  So you look up the password for logging onto www.Delta.com. You realize it is time to change all your passwords. Need to discourage identity theft, you know. Three days later, you still haven't mailed the invoice.

Don't get distracted. Send invoices.