Dan -

Excellent post that resonated with me as well - I have varied interests and the ability to juggle a lot of projects simultaneously, but have, in many ways, become a "jack of all trade, master of few":-) as Dien noted below. My problem is that, given my druthers, I'd rather be meandering around the town square instead of behind the DO NOT DISTURB sign:-)

As for time management "systems", I'm with you - all the $$$ I've spent on Franklin planners, planner pads, palm pilots, etc. would probably pay my mortgage for a few months!

What's finally worked for me is knowing myself and my traits - when I have a deadline, I do have laserlike focus and complete the tasks required with precision, and usually "know" the steps to completion without detailed documentation or tracking.

So, now I use my own system, including a mindmap to document the general steps of a project, working backwords as you noted, from the completion date. Then, daily, I look at the mindmap, update it, and write down appointments and a couple of to-do's related to the project steps so I'll get them done. It's worked well for me on a variety of projects that involve several steps to complete.

I use a REX PDA I bought from eBay to keep track of my appointments and to-do's, mainly because it holds all my contacts as well in a compact, business card size case.

Gordon's SQ1 paths of life have helped keep me in balance as well - they continue to be a valued resource!

It all boils down, for me, to how important is the project/task (regardless of underlying interest). If it's important, I'll move heaven and earth and get it done, if not, it'll probably slip until it rises in importance! For example, clearing my neighbor's bamboo roots out of our side garden bed was low in importance until the bamboo spread to the lawn. Then, I literally moved a lot of earth to eradicate the pestilence in a couple of weekends, researched bamboo barriers, and put the barrier in place without a to-do list or documenting the steps:-)

Just my rambling input to this excellent thread.

Bob