Sacrifice

The dual todo list, plus long term list of projects/writings/ideas under separate headings is exactly what I do. It used to be a text file, now it's a google doc.

I'll tend to manage my time by email a lot, but then if I get beyond inbox zero, I'll process certain things I'm lagging on into my todo list. A lot of my email also files into labels for certain business functions or partners/clients, skipping the inbox, but remaining unread so I can do it in blocks.

Interesting topic! From my own experience you indeed lose everything by not making clear cut choices. But "sacrifice" means you already consider the project you are giving up as a part of yourself. For me the best way to stay focused and in the same time not being frustrated is to set yourself deadlines on the projects you are on and avoid projecting yourself elsewhere until they are reached.

I think something interesting and related is the ability to sacrifice personal activities for a project. I've tried working on projects with many friends that just could not sacrifice part of their weekends with their girlfriends to do work. Or they were "too tired" after their day job to work on side project but could play video games. Some people won't even sacrifice some sleep!

One thing you have to look at is synergy. Open source projects can be business projects.

A pretty good approach. I need to start doing this. Thanks for posting! :3