This upcoming Sunday, my youngest daughter, “The Queen” will turn three years old. It’s the first time in my life as a parent where the child turning three doesn’t have a younger sibling waiting behind him or her.
It’s an odd feeling. One of those milestones that sneaks up on you, much like realizing that The Queen’s oldest brother has started Sixth grade and will be wanting his Learner’s Permit in about three years.
Big milestones are a typical time to reflect, and I think it’s beneficial to do so. It’s what drives us to make New Year’s resolutions, start workout programs after a significant birthday, or make somewhat irrational purchasing decisions.
It’s also one of the points of Agile methodology and the Sprint system. I’ve been working on this for the past month and a half, and am currently on Sprint #3, with each Sprint being a two-week increment. The idea was to focus on being better organized, and getting more things done by setting specific goals for each sprint period.
It’s working. I’m slowly seeing long running projects start making progress, as I focus on knocking out one or two components of a major project each sprint period. Daily tasks are becoming easier too, as I start falling into more of a cadence.
Where will this go? Hopefully to a better, more productive me. I’ve always been good at grinding along, but as I’ve noted previously, I have a tough time closing out on personal initiatives. If I don’t want to pass that particular issue on to my kids, I need to make progress on showing them better ways of managing time and resources.
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| My current desktop image and reminder. |
This is my current desktop photo. Relentless. Why? Aside from the obvious (that the NXT is one of the best looking piston aircraft ever designed) it’s because the name is a visual reminder for what my daily outlook needs to be. It’s a good, visual reminder that you can accomplish a lot, provided you’re willing to cut out superfluous things.