multitasking | here i am

Do you ever feel like you don’t get anything done? Today I got a lot done, except the number one thing that was on my list.

I call that procrastination. If I really wanted to do the most important task I set out to do, I would have done it first. But because I knew I didn’t really have to have it done today, I filled my day with several other important things and just told myself I didn’t have time. I think I chose to not make the time. So I’ll try again tomorrow and Wednesday. After yoga. And laundry. And….

Do you do that too? I tend to procrastinate until I feel pressure, and then I cram it all in at the last minute. I antagonize myself thinking about what I should do, and then I don’t do what I should but I do everything else instead and make myself crazy thinking about it. But my house gets really clean!! The act of doing feels like it is so much greater than dreaming and pretending sometimes, and when I actually get around to doing, I always wonder why I do that to myself. Silly.

Of all the things that did get done today, I’m most proud of the family dinner I prepared and served in our new collection of Polish pottery dishes, and cleaned up afterwards too. I love cooking and having a shared family dinner. This morning, Christian came up with a menu for the week that had me try something new. He wanted me to make mango chutney to go with roasted chicken and roasted Brussels sprouts and bread. What a gourmet eater! He first got the idea for mango chutney with roasted chicken from Gail, in the Netherlands. Thank you Gail for inspiring us tonight. We miss you! He would have liked to help prepare the dinner, but he had too much homework to do after his sport practice. Everyone loved it. Life is good!

My photo hell is back. We have done so much in the past two months and again today I’ve found myself trying to catch up with my digital backlog, before we head out again to create and capture more memorable experiences.

I still haven’t found the holy grail, but I think I might be getting closer. Never the less, it still comes down to a content issue, just like the days when I used to work in knowledge management. I have too much and capturing and sorting and organizing, deleting and backing up, packaging and sharing takes so much time! I’m starting to wonder if it’s worth it. The amount of time it takes to manage the photo process almost makes me want to quit taking photos, or at least I need to learn how to better edit, delete and manage them daily or weekly. How do you do it?

Here is how I’m trying to manage this beast that gives me anxiety and sucks up a lot of time. Please do share how you do it if you have a better solution or suggestion to try.

1. Create folders on my external hard drive by year, and subfolders by month. I use the format 2013/ 01 Jan 2013 and 02 Feb 2013, 03 Mar 2013. The numbers before the month sort the months in numerical orders. ABC order and the redundancy of the year helps you to visualize which month and year you’re working in, in case things get confusing.

2. Upload photos from all three of my devices (iPhone, iPad and SLR) by month to appropriate folder on hard drive.

3. Open monthly folder and create sub-folders to organize photos from each of the monthly events that occurred. i also create a summary folder for all misc pics for that month.

4. I then edit and delete photos for each event that aren’t great. I think I should work on deleting right after I’m done taking pictures on the device used to take the pictures very day. When do you edit?

5. Backup photos from hard drive to an electronic sharing location by monthly event. ( I’m trying Google + right now, but Facebook, Costco.com, picassa, Flickr are some others too). I’m hoping Google comes up with the killer platform to streamline and manage the entire process from up,lad, edit, store, share, create digital albums, print, etc)

6. One extra step for backup might be the CD/DVD rom physical files that you can store some place else. I also heard of carbonite, but haven’t looked that up yet. Any suggestions??

I used to use iPhoto until I ran out of space in my iPhoto library. I recommend NOT using iPhoto for storage because it’s a huge pain when you run out of space!

I shared a picture of my chaotic desk, trying to multitask while I wait for photos to upload. I am downloading magazines on my Kindle for the car ride, have my France travel books handy, and a cup of tea. There are devices all around and it’s still light outside at 9:30 pm! I’m also writing this and taking more pictures to add to my blog while waiting for uploads to complete. I’ll be sure to delete those right now!

I’m still finding joy despite the chaos. Wish me luck and I’d love to hear from you if you have a better solution!