Yes, I guess I am, but I don’t feel that way.  Below are some fun statistics from my personal task list, and one big surprise at the end.

(For those of you that don’t know, I follow David Allen’s Getting Things Done to stay in control and Making it All Work to keep perspective.  The gist of the first book is simply that you should write down everything that occurs to you and keep this all in one place.  That way you never panic that you’re forgetting something.  The gist of the second book is that you should keep a separate, shorter list of bigger things that matter.

I also follow Andrew Grove’s  High Output Management, which is what inspired me to start taking data on this stuff.)

This first graph shows task completion since I started tracking data last winter:

My collection habit means I go through phases, like May to early June, where I add much more to my list than I can remove.  If the blue line stays above the red line indefinitely, my task list will expand forever, and that’s bad.  So I want that red line up high.  Overall, the red line makes it looks like I only do five things a day.  I guess most of what I do is so spontaneous and isn’t on the list.

This second graph shows the quality of my tasks.  One of the things David Allen goes on about is making sure that your tasks have a context.  So I want that green line down near zero.  Most folks would also want that purple line down near zero, too, because that would mean they could retire (nothing left to do).  But for me, always thinking about what could be better, I’m okay with letting it pile up until I get some help.

You can see the effect of tracking metrics in these first two graphs.  When I first started back in December, I saw literally hundreds of task list items that had no context and appeared undone.  I reviewed these all until they had moved to wherever they belonged. Some of them were given contexts and/or set status = “complete.”  Others were set status = “maybe someday,” which means I still might get to them.  For instance, some day, maybe, I want to dedicate a statue in a park.  Doesn’t need to be on next week’s “to do” list.

This final graph speaks to my ability to follow-up.  David Allen defines a “tickler” as a reminder to do something.  As of yesterday, there were about ten ticklers overdue.  The red line indicates that I’m waiting for something and I haven’t set a tickler date.  That’s not helpful, so I want that down near zero.

So what’s the big surprise?  Since I started tracking data in December, I’ve completed 937 tasks and 23 major projects.  That’s about one project a week.  Here’s a sampling:

• Win my first freelance consulting job.
• Prove that some physics we were testing in one program works.
• Rent out one apartment.  And then another.
• Help Team #1 launch a consumer product (Hands Free Groceries).
• Write a business plan for XYZ (didn’t start).
• Help Team #2 launch a tech startup (ArtistBomb).
• Help Team #3 rewrite the bylaws for a non-profit (had some help on this one).

And I’m not breaking a sweat.  Thank you, David Allen and Andrew Grove.