How I get myself back on track

How I get myself back on track So, I guess I took a week off from my blog in order to launch my company. It wasnt planned that way, believe me. Every day I told myself that Id blog the next day. Surely many of you know this feeling. The feeling of having been lied to. By yourself. When I am sucking at my job, the usual problem is a slowdown in my ability to process information. In general, Im fast. I am pretty sure that most people who read blogs are faster than the general population at processing information. I have no research to prove this, but I do notice that when I recommend to people that they read blogs, people often say that its too much information to process. So, anyway, the times that my information-processing ability slows down is when theres a wrench in my system. Like launching a new company. When I noticed that Im drowning in my job, here are things I do to try to get on top of the information flow: 1. Model myself after my information-processing idols. Example: Gina Trapani, of Lifehacker fame, once told me that on days shes behind she deletes all the days feeds from the 100+ blogs she keeps track of. Her ability to delete inspires me. I started deleting stuff. 2. Look for shortcuts. I am usually really good at reading a wide range of blogs. But I deleted everything new that came in this week. And then I got nervous that it is lame to spew new information if I am not taking in new information. And then I found out about Guy Kawasakis new site, Alltop, which is great for spinning through a lot of good blogs quickly. I found the site because Guy asked me which career blogs I like. And then, nearly overnight, he launched career.alltop.coma list of links from the biggest career blogsand you know how I know Guy knows which blogs are good? Because my blog is in the number-one spot :) 3. Have a fit. Then I went to Philadelphia, to convince a software developer that his current job is a dead end and he should work at my company. And while I was there my computer broke. And I couldnt check email. Or blogs. Or deal with brazencareerist.com. So I called Ryan and told him to change our financial projections to include $150,000 this year to make sure that my computer doesnt break. And I told him to spend another $200,000 to buy me a Blackberry and a Blackberry specialist to travel with me everywhere I ever go so it never breaks. Then I ordered room serviceyou know, pizza and ice cream for $50 plus tip? And I have to say the room service order definitely made me calm while I was on the computer in the hotel lobby checking my email. So maybe the key to being a good information synthesizer is an all-out fit with an ice cream chaser. Because look, I blogged. And I think Im back on track.