The first quarter of 2008 is now over and I’m still trying to catch up.

March Goals Results

March ended up the same as February, too much time spent on work and not enough time spent on marketing. I’m having to face the reality that I really need to learn to say no and to start asking for more help.

1. Complete all my Level 1 marketing habits –
   I completed all my Level 1 habits one week. Too bad there was three other weeks in March. I see a pattern here. now, whenever I get busy I stop marketing. It’s about time I admit that I need some help balancing my time.

   Completed: 50%

2. Release a large Redmine plugin –
   I almost completed my large Redmine plugin. I’m using it myself now but it’s missing a few critical features before I can release it. Finishing it up and releasing it is part of my April goals.

   Completed: 73%

April Goals

I’m already overbooked for the entire first half of April so I’m taking on some goals that are smaller in scope.

1. Complete all my Level 1 marketing habits –
   Going to try this one again, it’s going to be difficult but I’m going to start to weed out a lot of unnecessary projects to reach this.

2. Open Source three applications –
   In April I want to open source three applications. Two of them are just waiting for the final polish and the third is about 70% ready. Once I open source these, I’ll be at 50% for my 2008 goal.

Lesson learned:

• Turn down projects –
  Once you get to a point where you are busy, you will start getting flooded with requests for side projects. Many of them are good, but you need to really evaluate the time commitment each one needs.

How was your April? What new knowledge did you get?

Eric