Whenever somebody young dies it's always a wake up call to people. This past weekend when Whitney Houston passed I saw a lot of people post about what a waste it was - because she was so talented and died young (possibly because of her choices). In any case, Whitney Houston only got 48 years. She will never sing another song.

Steve Jobs only got 56 years. He won't design another Apple product.

You? We don't know yet - could be 42 years, could be 68 years... but we do know that - for all practical purposes - it will be less than 100 years.

I guess my point is that we're all going to die young. And how much of our own lives will we waste? Maybe not because of drugs, like Whitney - but maybe because we're too lazy, or we're addicted to Facebook, or we're too scared to try.

Today you have a choice - tomorrow, maybe not.

Let me expand on each. GTD is a great system - it's super organized and does what it's supposed to do - keeps you on task. It's just not practical - it's too hard to keep up with categories and contexts and projects and tags. It doesn't matter which app I use - it's just too complicated - it's too much effort - too much time. But I still like most of the core ideas in GTD.

I consider myself a computer guy and love the idea of keeping my systems online where I always have access ot them. I loved trying all of the different GTD apps - probably too much so. I was constantly trying different apps - moving tasks and projects out of one app into another. Speed and ease of use was always a factor. I'd heard people mention that pen and paper was the best approach, but I never took it seriously - I thought, "they must just have lists, they're not doing real GTD, they probably don't 'get it'". But after failing so many times at GTD, I needed a new approach - so I tried pen and paper - and I love it.

I have a composition notebook and a pen. It's mobile, it's easier to write on then a smart phone, I can bend it to work for me, the speed and ease of use is amazing, and it just feels good. I think the last thing is the most important thing - it just feels good to keep track of your tasks on pen and paper. Maybe it's the break away from the computer for a minute or maybe it's something else. But, it just feels good. So, at least for now anways, I've found the best GTD app of all time - pen and paper - simple.

If I just grabbed you on the street and said what's the most important thing in your life? You would say something like - your family, or your church group, or maybe your career, maybe your kid or your pet. And the thing is - in some part of your heart that's absolutely true…

…Is the thing that you claim that's important, really important?…

…because if a lot of people actually looked at where their time and attention went - the parts that they do have control over - it would look like the most important thing in their life was Facebook…

…Before you try and fix everybody, it really does help to fix yourself.

• Merlin Mann

This quote from Merlin Mann is something that I found over a year ago, but continue to think about fairly regularly. It's important to realize where your time and attention is being spent because when all those moments are summed up - that's your life. And your time is important but your attention is even more important.

I also think about his first question - what's the most important thing in your life? Of course all of the things he mentions are - family, career, kids, etc. Sometimes we just have to remember to act like it.

Well, maybe nothing.

I just got done listening to my favorite podcast, 5by5's Back To Work with Merlin Mann where Merlin was shooting down the idea of making new years resolutions. And we all know that new years resolutions are bogus anyways - we hear it from everyone - Why wait until January 1? Why not start now? Everyone fails at their new years resolutions, anyway. I don't believe in making any new years resolutions.

I get all of that. However, I still want to improve. I want to make myself better. And maybe there is nothing magical about that January 1 date, but I will say this - New Years is probably my favorite holiday. The reason is because - although spending time with friends and family and buying gifts and eating food is great - New Years is about cleaning it all up. It's a breath of fresh air after being stuck in the house all Christmas break. It's refreshing.

New Years is a time to reflect on your previous year - what you did good, what you could've done better. New Years is a time to think about the next year - plan out what you can.

So, I'm not totally against the idea of new years resolutions - because I think this is the time of year to have optimism. It's the time of year to make things happen and get excited about things. So I will set some personal goals this January 1.

What's so magical about January 1? Nothing besides the fact that it's 1/1 - it's brand new year and we have the freedom, ability, and hope to make something happen - that's what's magical about it.

Happy New Year!

And, I guess that's why it's so fun - it's like a rollercoaster ride - or maybe more like the Tower of Doom at an amusement park. On the Tower of Doom, you inch up, up, up very slowly until you're sitting at the very top of the tower - at that point the ride comes to stop and lets you sit there for a minute as you peer across the amusement park in anticipation of that life threatening drop.

During the pregnancy we inched closer and closer to that day - and it seemed so slow. Then that day finally came and Charlotte Melody arrived, healthy and without any major issues - we were peering across the amusement park... and now, a little over a week later, we're being dropped from the top of the Tower of Doom. We're going super fast, we're not sleeping, I'm scared to death and it's a blast all at the same time.

Welcome to the world Charlotte Melody.

I find I have to remind myself that I am an artist. That the work I'm producing is my art. And just as if I were painting a picture, I should really strive to not just do good work, but to do great work - to create a piece of art that can be admired by others.

We're all an artist - that's something that I've heard and read from Seth Godin quite a bit. I guess it never really sunk in good until I was watching Waiting For Superman for the second time. They were talking about how a good teacher is an artist. And seeing a good teacher in action is the same as seeing a good musician in concert or a great athelete play his sport.

Somewhat along those same lines is a theory that we all work for ourselves. We all work for ourselves and the company we work for is our customer. They pay us to do a specific job for them. I think that's also a good way to think about things.

Every once in a while I have to remind myself to really give 100% of my effort in whatever it is I'm doing - otherwise, why do it?

About six months ago I fell into exactly that position. I started working in a more demanding position at work - a functional payroll on an SAP HCTM project. Time is a key factor in the project's success - therefore time is extremely valuable and more specifically my time, as a member of the team, is valuable to the project. At the same time, my family is growing and my kids need their dad's attention. My wife has been pregnant for the last nine months and she needs her husband's support. I also, until recently, have tried to keep a regular weight lifting schedule with my brother.

I think it's a situation like this where we turn to productivity theories and tips. A lot of which is pointless garbage that doesn't have any practical application. Some of it is really good (Getting Things Done by David Allen). It's easy to get caught up in "productivity". Get things done. Do more. Create. Ship something. Go, go, go.

Tonight I felt guilty because I have a lot of things on my "next actions" list that I could do - but I just didn't feel like doing them. I felt like doing nothing - browsing the internet, hanging out, relaxing. But I've been reading so much about productivity and getting things done, etc that I felt guilty that I was doing nothing when I could've been doing something productive.

I had to take a step back and ask myself why productivity was important in the first place... free time. And if you never allow yourself to have any free time - or you spend your free time feeling guilty or thinking about things that you could be doing - then what's the point?

I think David Allen does a good job of expressing that in his book - and I will keep working on it. And maybe one day I'll be so on top of my game that I'll be at ease and know that whatever it is I'm doing is exactly what I should be doing - even if it's doing nothing.

Also, as part of this, I went through the exercise of outlining how I thought my brother and his wife, the beneficiaries if both my wife and I pass at the same time, should spend the money if they happen to receive it. I think some people have a hard time thinking about what things would be like if they died - I didn't, really.

However, what did suprise me was how important this money became - and what this money meant. The money became everything because neither my wife nor myself would be there - so the only thing we would be able to provide to our girls is that money.

For example, I would want to give each of my girls $20,000 for their weddings. If both my wife and I are around, I guarentee you that none of my girls will receive $20,000 for their weddings. Why? One, because we probably won't have that kind of money. And two, because we'll be there - we'll be there to pick out their dress, I'll be there to walk them down the aisle, and we'll be there to eat cake with them at their reception. But, if we're not there - the only thing we can give them is this money. It won't be a replacement for our presence, but it would have to be.

It made me think about the phrase, money isn't everything. I agree with that phrase but in this situation - it would be everything.

Part of the reason why I think I don't write as much is because I think every thing I write needs to be some extraordinary idea or essay. It's hard for me to write something pointless or that I don't feel passionate about - however, I think that may be what I have to do.

So, here's a post that might not seem important - but at the same time, maybe it does.

There are 2 hours out of the week that are the most important to me - usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays I workout and don't get home until 7pm and my kids go to be at 8pm - it's that hour that's the most important. Because, on Tuesday for example, it's the only hour I have with my kids from Monday at 8pm until Wednesday at 5pm... that's a 45 hour span. In that 45 hour span I get to see my kids for 1 hour. The 45 hour span starts again Wednesday evening at 8pm.